Fox Newshttp://desmogblog.com/taxonomy/term/627/all
enHeartland's Jay Lehr calls EPA "Fraudulent," Despite Defrauding EPA and Going to Jail http://desmogblog.com/2014/09/04/heartland-science-director-jay-lehr-calls-epa-fraudulent-defrauded-epa-himself
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/Jay%20Lehr.png?itok=QekFzmRa" width="161" height="221" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><em>Crossposted from PolluterWatch blog on <a href="http://polluterwatch.org/blog/man-who-defrauded-epa-calls-epa-fraudulent-fox">Jay Lehr</a>.</em></p>
<p>If you're John Stossel and you want to host a segment to rail against the <span class="caps">US</span> Environmental Protection Agency, who ought you call?</p>
<p>It turns out, a man who was convicted and sentenced to six months in prison for defrauding the <span class="caps">EPA</span>!<br /><br /><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Stossel's guest last night, Jay Lehr, was sentenced to six months–serving three–in a minimum security federal</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"> </span><a href="http://www.mgwa.org/newsletter/mgwa1991-3.pdf" style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">prison</a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"> back in 1991, and his organization at the time was</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"> </span><a href="http://www.mgwa.org/newsletter/mgwa1991-2.pdf" style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">fined $200,000</a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">. So Jay Lehr knows about <span class="caps">EPA</span> corruption better than anyone: he was the guy caught “falsifying employee time sheets on a government contract” for <span class="caps">EPA</span>, according to the</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"> </span><a href="#Dispatch" style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Columbus Dispatch</a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">.</span></p>
<p><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="300" scrolling="no" src="http://embed.crooksandliars.com/embed/QOQRRSF" width="540"></iframe></p>
<!--break-->
<p>Ironically, Lehr told Stossel that <span class="caps">EPA</span> is “fraudulent” in estimates of amounts of pollution that pose hazards to people's health, such as particulate matter in coal pollution, estimated to prematurely kill 13,000 Americans every year, according to the <a href="http://www.lung.org/press-room/press-releases/power-plants-epa.html">American Lung Association</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/jay-lehr">Jay Lehr</a> is now the “science director” at a climate chance science denying organization called The Heartland Institute, which has <a href="http://www.polluterwatch.com/292934-1-15-2012-2012-fundraising-plan">received</a> money from coal mining company Murray Energy.</p>
<p>John Stossel did not mention Lehr's fraud conviction. Perhaps he didn't know his guest defrauded <span class="caps">US</span> taxpayers, but Stossel and Lehr share a flair for denial of global warming for polluting corporations like Koch Industries, which has financial ties to both men. Heartland is part of the Koch brothers-funded <a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/state-policy-network-spn/?__utma=1.834972712.1309880319.1345044157.1345047894.336&amp;__utmb=1.6.10.1345047894&amp;__utmc=1&amp;__utmx=-&amp;__utmz=1.1345047894.336.247.utmcsr=google|utmccn=%28organic%29|utmcmd=organic|utmctr=%28not%20provided%29&amp;__utmv=-&amp;__utmk=19481784">State Policy Network</a>–the massive apparatus of state-based and national front groups that push political agendas that are favorable to billionaire executives like Charles Koch. Heartland itself has <a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/heartland-institute-hi/">received</a> money from Koch foundations.</p>
<p>Stossel hosts “Stossel in the Classroom,” a product of the Koch-funded Center for Independent Thought. When Stossel ran a <span class="caps">TV</span> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1sFKjAkLws">segment</a> in 2009 that was intended to <a href="http://stosselintheclassroom.org/pdf/stossel_TeachersGuide_09.pdf">mislead students</a> about the scientific reality of climate change, <a href="http://conservativetransparency.org/recipient/center-for-independent-thought/">Koch's Claude Lambe Foundation gave <span class="caps">CIT</span> $35,000</a>. The Center for Independent Thought has continued to receive money from <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Koch_Family_Foundations">Koch foundations</a> every year since, according to <span class="caps">IRS</span> tax filings.</p>
<p>According to a Heartland Institute email advertising Lehr's attendance on Stossel's show, Mr. Lehr's relevance in attacking the <span class="caps">EPA</span> comes from a Heartland report he wrote urging the agency to be “<a href="http://heartland.org/policy-documents/replacing-environmental-protection-agency">systematically dismantled</a>.” This coming from a group <a href="http://www.polluterwatch.com/292934-1-15-2012-2012-fundraising-plan">soliciting money</a> from coal company Murray Energy, former ExxonMobil lobbyist <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Arthur_G._Randol_III">Randy Randol</a> and the Charles Koch Foundation.</p>
<p>This all fits into the framework that is becoming nauseatingly familiar to American voters: billionaires pull the strings, and our voices don't matter. Stossel is just one of many <a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/CASE-STUDY-The-Kochtopus-Media-Network/">Koch-funded or Koch friendly media personalities</a> that wrap Charles Koch's values in patriotic rhetoric and un-factual packaging. Meanwhile, people like Jay Lehr at groups like Heartland continue to carry Koch's water into the policy arena, influencing politicians to do things like undermine enforcement of laws to reduce air and water pollution or mitigate dangerous climate change.</p>
<p><em><a id="Dispatch" name="Dispatch"></a>Source</em>: <em>David Lore, “Minimum Security, Maximum Cost: State Spends $53,000 Per Prison Bed to House Mostly Nonviolent Criminals,” Columbus Dispatch (Ohio) September 6, 1992.</em></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><span class="caps">USA</span> V. <span class="caps">LEHR</span>, <span class="caps">ET</span> <span class="caps">AL</span>, </span><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Case Number:</span><em> </em><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">2:91-<span class="caps">CR</span>-00068, Charges Filed </span><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">04/26/1991, <span class="caps">U.S.</span> District Court Southern District of Ohio.</span></p>
<p><em>Hat tip to <a href="http://deepclimate.org/2013/03/04/open-thread-march-2013-muzzling-of-canadian-scientists-iea-energy-technology-perspectives-2012-heartlands-jay-lehr-1980s-fraud-conviction/">Deep Climate</a>, <a href="http://vvattsupwiththat.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-matter-of-conviction.html">Russel Seitz</a> and <a href="http://www.tomathon.com/mphp/2011/03/unrequested-fission-surplus-kent-brockman-meet-jay-lehr/">Thomas Miles</a> for leading to primary sources on Jay Lehr's conviction. Video courtesy <a href="http://crooksandliars.com/2014/09/man-who-defrauded-epa-calls-epa-fraudulent" target="_blank">Crooks and Liars</a>.</em></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2673">jay lehr</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/821">Heartland Institute</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/epa">EPA</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/john-stossel">John Stossel</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/627">Fox News</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/17881">center for independent thought</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/913">global warming</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/939">climate change</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5968">Koch</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1187">murray energy</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/17882">randy randol</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/17883">national well water association</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/17884">nwwa</a></div></div></div>Thu, 04 Sep 2014 18:51:59 +0000Connor Gibson8464 at http://desmogblog.comBBC Pulls The Plug On Climate Change Deniershttp://desmogblog.com/2014/07/08/bbc-pulls-plug-climate-change-deniers
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/headlines.jpg?itok=RaDY7LI6" width="200" height="133" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Corporate-controlled media outlets have figured out that debate, or more appropriately <em>heated</em> debate and confrontation, can generate larger audiences than a bunch of people sitting around a table agreeing with one another. And this can work for some topics, such as the best way to tackle immigration reform or how to reduce the federal budget deficit. <br /><br />
But when faced with an issue that clearly only has one side, the corporate media continues to parade anti-reality talking heads into their studios, hoping that they can help boost ratings. That is what has happened with the issue of climate change.</p>
<p>The American media have not been the only guilty parties. Media outlets in other parts of the world have been just as willing to put climate change deniers on television to spread misinformation about an issue that will effect the lives of all of earth’s inhabitants. </p>
<p>But unlike the American media, outlets in the rest of the world have realized that the issue of climate change is far too important to allow deniers on their networks to attack the <a href="http://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/">scientific consensus</a> with no actual evidence.</p>
<p>This month, the <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/07/07/3456782/bbc-cuts-climate-deniers/"><span class="caps">BBC</span> instructed its reporters</a> to stop giving credence to climate change deniers on the air. The network said that they do want to remain neutral on scientific issues, but that there is a very real distinction between neutrality and false balance. <a href="Editorially,%20this%20type%20of%20debate%20makes%20the%20network%20look%20like%20it%25E2%2580%2599s%20being%20balanced,%20giving%20equal%20opportunity%20to%20opposite%20viewpoints.%20However,%20because%2095%20to%2097%20percent%20of%20climate%20scientists%20agree%20that%20man-made%20greenhouse%20gas%20emissions%20are%20causing%20the%20planet%20to%20warm,%20that%20balance%20is%20false,%20giving%20disproportionate%20time%20to%20a%20viewpoint%20that%20is%20widely%20rejected%20in%20the%20scientific%20community.">Think Progress explains</a> the difference between the two:</p>
<!--break-->
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">Editorially, this type of debate makes the network look like it’s being balanced, giving equal opportunity to opposite viewpoints. However, because 95 to 97 percent of climate scientists agree that man-made greenhouse gas emissions are causing the planet to warm, that balance is false, giving disproportionate time to a viewpoint that is widely rejected in the scientific community.</p>
<p>Think Progress also pointed out that the “false balance” trap is what has plagued American media for years. The idea is that putting one scientist against a climate change denier creates a balance, even though one guest is backed by science and the other is not. As <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/05/12/3436771/john-oliver-climate-change-debate/">John Oliver recently pointed out</a>, an honest “debate” about climate change would involve 97 scientists versus 3.</p>
<p><object height="315" width="560"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/cjuGCJJUGsg?hl=en_US&amp;version=3" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/v/cjuGCJJUGsg?hl=en_US&amp;version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560"></embed></object></p>
<p>The <span class="caps">BBC</span> is not the first outlet that has tried to weed out climate change deniers. In 2012, the <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/10/18/climate-sceptic-aussie-radio-host-must-take-fact-checking-course-says-authority">government of Australia forced conservative radio host Alan Jones</a> to take a fact-checking seminar after he repeatedly told his listeners that climate change was a farce, and that there was no sound science on the subject.</p>
<p>American media outlets, on the other hand, not only tolerate anti-science viewpoints, but embrace them. A <a href="http://ringoffireradio.com/2014/07/bbc-to-journalists-stop-giving-quacks-airtime/">recent report by the Union of Concerned Scientists</a> showed that cable news giants <span class="caps">CNN</span> and Fox News reported incorrect information about climate change in 33% and 72% of their coverage of the issue, respectively.</p>
<p>In the days and weeks following the release of the federal government’s climate change report earlier this year, <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2014/05/09/study-top-cable-news-coverage-of-federal-climat/199247">Media Matters showed</a> that <span class="caps">CNN</span> cast doubt on the report in 19% of their coverage. Additionally, Fox News referred to the report, and climate change in general, as “<a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2014/05/09/study-top-cable-news-coverage-of-federal-climat/199247">the oldest superstition around</a>.” In total, <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2014/05/09/study-top-cable-news-coverage-of-federal-climat/199247">86% of the guests invited</a> onto cable news shows to discuss the report were not scientists.</p>
<p>Cable news outlets are not the only media forums that are guilty of giving deniers a microphone: <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2013/10/10/study-media-sowed-doubt-in-coverage-of-un-clima/196387">Print media is equally guilty</a>. <br /><br /><a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2013/10/10/study-media-sowed-doubt-in-coverage-of-un-clima/196387">In response to</a> the recent <span class="caps">UN</span> <span class="caps">IPCC</span> report, 18% of print media casted doubt on the subject, while 10% remained “neutral” via false balance. Those numbers do not account for all print media, just a selection from a Media Matters report that looked at Bloomberg News, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times.</p>
<p>The move by the <span class="caps">BBC</span> to shut out climate change deniers is a bold step, but a necessary one. The science is clear on human-caused global warming, and the longer we allow deniers to confuse the public about the issue, the more irreversible damage will be caused by our inaction.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/939">climate change</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5157">media</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7712">Coverage</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/627">Fox News</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/bbc">BBC</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1370">cnn</a></div></div></div>Wed, 09 Jul 2014 01:23:50 +0000Farron Cousins8281 at http://desmogblog.comFOX Alert: O'Reilly Factor Producer Asks DeSmogBlog to Provide Best Arguments Against Global Warminghttp://desmogblog.com/2014/02/19/fox-alert-o-reilly-factor-producer-asks-desmogblog-provide-best-arguments-against-global-warming
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/204x204-bill-oreilly.jpg?itok=I0DCyhuB" width="200" height="200" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Look out, folks. Bill O'Reilly is about to talk about global warming again on the O'Reilly Factor.<br /><br />
Of course, he's already reached his conclusion that “<a href="http://mediamatters.org/video/2011/04/06/oreilly-nobody-can-control-the-climate-but-god/178416">Nobody can control the climate but God</a>.” It's just that he doesn't have any data to back up his anti-science position. <br /><br />
So he has one of his producers on the hunt today, apparently scrambling last minute, looking for “the very best arguments” to support climate change denial. Here's the email DeSmogBlog received this morning: </p>
<p><img alt="" src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Screen%20Shot%202014-02-19%20at%2011.26.26%20AM.png" style="width: 560px; height: 150px;" /></p>
<p>I feel for O'Reilly's producers, honestly. It must be tough to face this “very tight deadline” problem when asked to provide factual support for a baseless, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/feb/05/denying-climate-change-scepticism-motivated-reasoning">ideologically-motivated</a> assumption.<br /><br />
Good luck, Robert and friends. It's a difficult job making stuff up so your boss can maintain his <span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">politically driven network's </span><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">ignorance about climate science. <br /><br />
Who knows, maybe he'll surprise us this time. Stay tuned. </span></p>
<!--break--></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8309">Bill O&#039;Reilly</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8019">O&#039;Reilly Factor</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/627">Fox News</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/939">climate change</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/913">global warming</a></div></div></div>Wed, 19 Feb 2014 19:54:45 +0000Brendan DeMelle7862 at http://desmogblog.comCiting DeSmogBlog Series, "FrackNation" Screening Cancelled by MN Film Festivalhttp://desmogblog.com/2014/01/24/citing-desmogblog-series-fracknation-screening-cancelled-mn-film-festival
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/Show-Cancelled.jpg?itok=NXbO1djn" width="200" height="137" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>“<a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/06/03/exposed-fracknation-deploys-tobacco-playbook-response-gasland-2">FrackNation</a>,” the documentary film about <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/fracking-the-future/">hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”)</a> with <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/05/28/fracknation-part-two-koch-industries-ties-bind">close conservative movement ties</a>, recently had its showing cancelled at Winona, Minnesota's annual <a href="http://frff.org/wpsite/">Frozen River Film Festival</a> (<span class="caps">FRFF</span>).</p>
<p>Citing <em>DeSmogBlog</em>'s <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/06/03/exposed-fracknation-deploys-tobacco-playbook-response-gasland-2">two-part</a> <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/05/28/fracknation-part-two-koch-industries-ties-bind">investigative series</a> published in May 2013 on “FrackNation,” <span class="caps">FRFF</span> Director Mike Kennedy <a href="http://www.winonapost.com/stock/functions/VDG_Pub/detail.php?choice=57007&amp;home_page=1&amp;archives">told the <em>Winona Post</em> his rationale for cancelling the film</a> is that it was, “pretty apparent they were paid to make these movies to counter Gasland [Part <span class="caps">II</span>].”</p>
<p>“DeSmogBlog.com appears to be the main source of allegations that 'FrackNation' was industry-funded,” <a href="http://www.winonapost.com/stock/functions/VDG_Pub/detail.php?choice=57007&amp;home_page=1&amp;archives">wrote the <em>Post</em></a>. “DeSmogBlog claims connections between [film Co-Director Phelim] McAleer and conservative groups, industry groups help[ing] promote the film after its was made, and the fact that McAleer directed an industry-funded documentary in the past, as proof that 'FrackNation' is cut from the same cloth.”</p>
<p>The cancellation has caused a major kerfuffle in conservative media circles, covered by outlets ranging from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHm0txq3Ebs"><em>Fox News</em></a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaXdFutL55w"><em>Fox Business</em></a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOt3i_3MPy0"><em>The Blaze <span class="caps">TV</span></em></a>, <a href="townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2014/01/20/tolerant-liberals-ban-profracking-film-from-festival-in-minnesota-n1781585"><em>Town Hall</em></a>, <a href="http://barracudabrigade.blogspot.com/2014/01/this-crap-never-ends-pro-fracking-film.html"><em>Watchdog.org</em></a>, <a href="hotair.com/archives/2014/01/23/the-ed-morrissey-show-kerry-picket-phelim-mcaleer-steven-crowder/"><em>Hot Air</em></a> and others. McAleer was a featured guest on “Fox and Friends” on January 23. </p>
<p><!--break--></p>
<script charset="UTF-8" src="chrome://hdv/content/hdv.js" type="application/javascript">
<!--//--><![CDATA[// ><!--
//--><!]]>
</script><script charset="UTF-8" src="chrome://hdv/content/hdv.js" type="application/javascript">
<!--//--><![CDATA[// ><!--
//--><!]]>
</script></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-video-blog field-type-file field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="media-youtube-outer-wrapper" id="media-youtube-1" style="width: 480px; height: 360px;">
<div class="media-youtube-preview-wrapper" id="media_youtube_GHm0txq3Ebs_1">
<object width="480" height="360">
<param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GHm0txq3Ebs?version=3"></param>
<param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param>
<param name="wmode" value="transparent" />
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GHm0txq3Ebs?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="360" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent"></embed>
</object> </div>
</div>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-text-after-video field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><a href="http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=65361a4a899c736f66ed8fb13&amp;id=8fe96a65b6" style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">FrackNation issued a press statement</a><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"> in response to the cancellation, spawning the conservative media backlash. </span></p>
<!--break-->
<p>“The film festival organizers seem to hate alternative points of view, they seem to want to quash diversity. They seem to be scared of the truth,” <a href="http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=65361a4a899c736f66ed8fb13&amp;id=8fe96a65b6">McAleer said in the press statement</a>. “Basically the Frozen River Film Festival organizers have given in to bullying and taken the easy way out and censored a film that might offend environmental elites who think they know best.”</p>
<p>But an <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/FrackNation%20Emails%20to%20Frozen%20River%20Film%20Festival.pdf">email exchange<strong style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">** </strong></a><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/FrackNation%20Emails%20to%20Frozen%20River%20Film%20Festival.pdf">provided by film festival organizers</a> to </span><em style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">DeSmogBlog</em><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"> shows, far from a case of censorship, “FrackNation” did not agree to the standard operating procedure for screening the film. In turn, festival organizers decided they wouldn't screen it.</span></p>
<h3>
“FrackNation” Rises to Prominence</h3>
<p>Co-Directed by Magdalena Segieda, Ann McElhinney and McAleer, “FrackNation” came out a few months before the release of Josh Fox's “<a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/05/21/gasland-2-grassroots-premiere-highlights-industry-psyops-fracking-fights">Gasland: Part <span class="caps">II</span></a>” and around the same time as Gus Van Sant's Hollywood film critical of fracking, “<a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/12/11/oil-and-gas-industry-gears-attack-promised-land">Promised Land</a>,” starring Matt Damon. </p>
<p>Since its release, “FrackNation” has done many <a href="http://fracknation.com/screenings/">screenings</a> nationwide for state-level <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/americans-prosperity-history-research-background-funding">Americans for Prosperity (<span class="caps">AFP</span>)</a> groups. <span class="caps">AFP</span> is a front group founded and bankrolled by the Koch Brothers, David and Charles Koch. It's also done many screenings for oil and gas industry trade associations. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2013/02/phelim_mcaleer_s_fracknation_conservatives_now_have_their_own_movies_about.single.html">“FrackNation” also played </a>in front of the <a href="http://science.house.gov/"><span class="caps">U.S.</span> House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology</a> in February 2013, which <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2013/02/phelim_mcaleer_s_fracknation_conservatives_now_have_their_own_movies_about.single.html">Dave Weigel of <em>Slate</em> reported</a> “around 40 Republican staffers and members of Congress” attended. </p>
<p>In contrast, Josh Fox was <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2012/2/2/gasland_director_josh_fox_arrested_at">arrested at the same Committee's hearing a month earlier</a> while filming for his then upcoming film for “unlawful entry.”</p>
<h3>
Missing Context: “FrackNation” Snubs Festival Screening Terms</h3>
<p>McAleer's claim is that “FrackNation” has been bludgeoned into silence by the <span class="caps">FRFF</span> organizers. </p>
<p>“What country am I living in?,” he <a href="http://www.winonapost.com/stock/functions/VDG_Pub/detail.php?choice=57007&amp;home_page=1&amp;archives">asked rhetorically in an interview with the <em>Winona Post</em></a>. “I thought that this was America. I thought that people actually appreciated dissent.” </p>
<p>But that's not the whole story, according to <span class="caps">FRFF</span> organizers, who said it's the festival's standard operating procedure that film representatives come for post-film discussions and question-and-answer sessions. </p>
<p>“Upon original acceptance we stated that a filmmaker attend with the film and join in a moderated public forum, as engagement is an important part of our mission,” <a href="https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10152150027464494&amp;id=20325904493&amp;stream_ref=10">reads a press release they posted on <em>Facebook</em></a> about canceling the film's screening. “We offered to pay travel and lodging to anyone from the film who could attend. They declined to send someone, so we will not be screening the film.”</p>
<p><span class="caps">FRFF</span> provided <em>DeSmogBlog</em> the email exchange between Festival Director Crystal Hegge and “FrackNation” co-director Magdalena Segieda outlined in <span class="caps">FRFF</span>'s press release. </p>
<p>“Is there anyone associated with the film that could come to the festival?,” Hegge asked in a December 19 email. “If no one from the film can come to the festival I may have to rethink my arrangement because there will be a lot of dead time in this particular theater without a <span class="caps">Q&amp;A</span> or panel.”</p>
<p>Segieda responded, but didn't address the possibility of the “FrackNation” screening being canceled if a film spokesperson couldn't attend the festival. </p>
<p>“Unfortunately, no one from the FrackNation team would be able to come,” wrote Segieda in a December 20 email. “Let me know when you set the the time, I will wait for your laurel to start promoting the screening.”</p>
<p><span class="caps">FRFF</span> told <em>DeSmogBlog</em> it had a local <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/9264">frac sand</a> industry sponsor give $1,000 to the film festival to support a member of the “FrackNation” team coming to the film festival.</p>
<p>But after Segieda informed Hegge that “FrackNation” couldn't comply with <span class="caps">FRFP</span>'s request that they participate in a post-screening panel and after “FrackNation” asked for $10,000 from the sponsor according to Kennedy, the sponsor pulled out. From there, it was game over for screening the film at <span class="caps">FRFF</span>. </p>
<p>Initially, Kennedy envisioned a “Super Bowl” of fracking documentaries to take place at <span class="caps">FRFF</span>, with a debate between to ensue between McAleer and Fox. <span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Fox couldn't make it out. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">But in his place, </span><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/mayor-calvin-tillman-leaves-dish-texas-fearing-fracking-effects-familys-health" style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Calvin Tillman</a><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"> —</span><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"> the former Mayor of Dish, Texas featured in the second “Gasland” — will be on-site as a representative and speaker for the film, according to Kennedy. </span></p>
<h3>
Film Fest Organizers Not Backing Down</h3>
<p>Despite the backlash by the “FrackNation” team, <span class="caps">FRFF</span> organizers say they won't back down. </p>
<p>They told the <em>Winona Post</em>, “true documentaries are independently funded,” pointing out that its role model film festivals, <a href="http://www.mountainfilm.org/">Telluride Mountain Film Festival</a> and <a href="http://www.sundance.org/festival/">Sundance Film Festival</a> have both also snubbed “FrackNation” and concluded, “there is a growing national consensus that the film does not qualify as a documentary.”</p>
<p>In place of screening “FrackNation,” <span class="caps">FRFF</span> is hosting a forum titled “Documentaries Today: My Fact Your Fiction,” which will center around the fine line between factual documentary film and propaganda documentary-style film.</p>
<p>Asked if he thought the post-cancellation was manufactured and deceptive, Kennedy told <em>DeSmogBlog</em>, “let's just say it was likely well thought out and coordinated and leave it there.”</p>
<p><strong>**Update</strong><strong style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">**</strong><strong style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">: </strong><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">In an email interview with “FrackNation” Co-Director </span><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Magdalena Segieda, <em>DeSmogBlog</em> has <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Emails%20Between%20FrackNation%20and%20Frozen%20River%20Film%20Fest.pdf">learned additional emails were exchanged</a> (published here with </span><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Segieda's </span><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">permission) after December 20 between the film festival coordinators and </span><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Segieda. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">These emails weren't included in the initial batch sent to <em>DeSmogBlog</em> by the festival organizers.</span><strong style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"> </strong><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">In a <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Emails%20Between%20FrackNation%20and%20Frozen%20River%20Film%20Fest.pdf">January 7 email</a>, Film Festival Director Crystal Hegge informed Segieda the film screening would be at 10:00 <span class="caps">AM</span> on January 26.</span></p>
<p>“Thanks - do you have a laurel by any chance so I can start promoting the screening on our social media?,” <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Emails%20Between%20FrackNation%20and%20Frozen%20River%20Film%20Fest.pdf">Segieda wrote</a> in response to Hegge's email.</p>
<p>After Hegge told Segieda all she had was a “generic laurel,” on January 10, a week passed. Then, <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Emails%20Between%20FrackNation%20and%20Frozen%20River%20Film%20Fest.pdf">according to the email exchange</a> provided to <em>DeSmogBlog</em> by Segieda, Hegge emailed Segieda to say they had to cancel the screening a week later on January 17.</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">“I am writing to inform you that we will not be showing <span class="caps">FRACKNATION</span> during our 2014 festival,” <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Emails%20Between%20FrackNation%20and%20Frozen%20River%20Film%20Fest.pdf">Hegge wrote</a>. “Due to the high quantity of films at the festival we have decided not to show this feature film without a filmmaker attendant. Thank you for your submission and please consider us in the future.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">It didn't take long for </span><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Segieda to respond. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">“But we have already published and promoted the screening with time and address to thousands of our fans on our social media,” </span><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Segieda wrote less than ten minutes later in a response email. “</span><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">I have also just finished create (sic) a promo poster attached here and was going to push it out over the next couple of days.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Asked about the discrepency in the story versions between the two camps, Phelim McAleer provided this statement to <em>DeSmogBlog</em>:</span></p>
<blockquote>
<p>It is unfair that the Frozen River Film Festival has cancelled the FrackNation screening and misrepresented the true situation in the media. I think its clear that they have caved to political pressure and as a result there will not be diversity of opinion and ideas at the festival. This is not what a film festival should be about.</p>
</blockquote>
<script charset="UTF-8" src="chrome://hdv/content/hdv.js" type="application/javascript">
<!--//--><![CDATA[// ><!--
//--><!]]>
</script><script charset="UTF-8" src="chrome://hdv/content/hdv.js" type="application/javascript">
<!--//--><![CDATA[// ><!--
//--><!]]>
</script></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/13296">FrackNation</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6225">Matt Damon</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5760">josh fox</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11320">Gus Van Sant</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11319">Promised Land</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15107">Magdalena Segieda</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15108">Town Hall</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/629">Neil Cavuto</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7234">Fox Business</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15109">The Blaze</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/12712">Phelim McAleer</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4059">Ann McElhinney</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15110">Fox and Friends</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/627">Fox News</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15111">Frozen River Film Festival</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1800">koch industries</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5188">Kochtopus</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4515">Americans for Prosperity</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15112">Winona Post</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9580">Winona</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/804">sundance film festival</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7421">Mississippi River</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9264">Frac Sand</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5133">fracking</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5137">hydraulic fracturing</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3068">climate change denier</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/climate-change-denial">climate change denial</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4061">not evil just wrong</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4060">mine your own business</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15113">Mike Kennedy</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5565">shale gas</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7277">shale oil</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6344">unconventional gas</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8931">unconventional oil</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2800">natural gas</a></div></div></div>Sat, 25 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000Steve Horn7783 at http://desmogblog.comFour Days Into Government Shutdown, Economy and Environment Heading Southhttp://desmogblog.com/2013/10/04/four-days-government-shutdown-economy-and-environment-heading-south
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/capitol_money.jpg?itok=HZ68Q49x" width="200" height="150" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>We've now entered the fourth day of the government shutdown, and the economic impacts are already being felt by states all over America. As it turns out, the environmental services provided by the government – everything from running our national park system to renewable energy development – is quite an important part of our economy.</p>
<p>The most obvious and immediate effect is the <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/10/02/2715921/national-parks-shutdown-cost/">loss of roughly $76 million every day</a> from the closure of national parks and zoos. This loss of revenue will have a ripple effect throughout local economies, impacting small businesses, restaurants, lodges, and so on. </p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2013/10/02/76182/shutdown-adds-insult-to-injury-for-crumbling-national-parks-and-monuments/">Center for American Progress</a>, the hit to the National Parks Service is adding “<a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2013/10/02/76182/shutdown-adds-insult-to-injury-for-crumbling-national-parks-and-monuments/">insult to injury</a>,” as they were hit particularly hard by previous funding cuts, as well as the sequester cuts earlier this year:</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">Since 2010, the budget to operate national parks has been slashed by 13 percent in today’s dollars, or $315 million. Chronic underfunding of national parks and public lands has contributed to an estimated $12 billion backlog of deferred maintenance at national parks.</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">As a result of mandatory funding cuts under the sequester, the national parks were unable to hire 1,900 workers for the busy 2013 summer season. Several national parks, including the Grand Canyon, Glacier National Park, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park, had to implement seasonal closures, reduce visitor-center hours, and cancel interpretive programs. Twenty-nine national wildlife refuges had to close for hunting in 2013 as a result of the sequester.</p>
<p>But even though tourists won’t be able to enjoy our federal lands, the <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/09/26/2682131/national-parks-government-shutdown/">dirty energy industry is still allowed full access</a>. As the funding for energy exploration is provided by the companies themselves, they are exempt from the federal rules put in place that demand all “<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/09/26/2682131/national-parks-government-shutdown/">non-essential</a>” services be immediately put on hold.</p>
<p>This doesn’t mean that drillers are enjoying this shutdown. The Interior Department was <a href="http://theenergycollective.com/mstepp/283126/government-shutdown-damages-us-energy-innovation">forced to stop the permitting process for energy exploration</a>, leaving the dirty energy industry unable to open up any new areas for exploitation.</p>
<!--break-->
<p>The economic impacts of the shutdown could potentially be felt for years to come, depending on how long the shutdown lasts, and what type of funding deal is struck to end it. <a href="http://theenergycollective.com/mstepp/283126/government-shutdown-damages-us-energy-innovation">Renewable energy projects being funded by the government</a> have ground to an abrupt halt, and the longer they remain shuttered, the longer we’ll have to wait for renewable energy.</p>
<p>From <a href="http://theenergycollective.com/mstepp/283126/government-shutdown-damages-us-energy-innovation">The Energy Collective</a>:</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has stopped all new offshore wind demonstration project permitting.</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">The Department of Energy’s leading research and technology development offices, such as the Office of Science and the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, are currently being run by a skeleton crew, dramatically decreasing stewardship of the National Labs and program management of nearly $5 billion in clean energy innovation projects.</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">Research activities at <span class="caps">NIST</span> and <span class="caps">NOAA</span>, including climate and weather research, material science, nano-science, and energy science, have been stopped.</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">Non-essential research and procurement at the Department of Defense, such as investments in clean energy (roughly $1 billion worth), is halted which is slowing down development of next-generation batteries, microgrids, and power electronics as well as early markets for solar panels on bases.</p>
<p>These projects may not have an immediate impact on the economy, but the thinking going on in the right wing echo chamber could certainly affect their future. </p>
<p>Both <a href="http://desmogblog.com/2013/10/02/what-government-shutdown-means-environment">Republican members of Congress</a> and the folks over at Fox News have been <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/10/02/fox-cheers-shutdown-of-toxic-cleanup/196222">celebrating the shutdown</a> of the <span class="caps">EPA</span> and other regulatory agencies, and they have <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/10/02/fox-cheers-shutdown-of-toxic-cleanup/196222">begun to ponder out loud</a> whether or not the shutdown is showing how unnecessary these projects and agencies really are to society. </p>
<p>If this kind of thinking takes hold, it could easily lead to a reduction or outright elimination of some of the projects listed above. At the very least, they have been given a small amount of leverage to put these items on the short list for cuts during negotiations.</p>
<p>And Republicans in Washington have already taken full advantage of this kind of thinking. They are using this opportunity to go after several large prizes that they’ve been eyeing for quite a while.</p>
<p>On Thursday, the House Committee on Natural Resources held a hearing on several pieces of legislation, the <a href="http://www.politico.com/morningenergy/1013/morningenergy11815.html">most important being <span class="caps">H.R.</span> 2657</a>, also known as the <a href="http://thomas.loc.gov/home/gpoxmlc113/h2657_ih.xml">Disposal of Excess Federal Lands Act of 2013</a>, which would green light the sale of public lands that had been deemed “suitable for disposal.” </p>
<p>The distraction of the government shutdown, coupled with the fact that the national park system is currently closed, allowed further discussion on <span class="caps">HR</span> 2657. The bill has less to do with recovering funds for the government, as House Republicans have claimed, and everything to do with selling public lands to industries that would defile it – either the dirty energy industry or the logging industry.</p>
<p>While <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/bills.php?cycle=2014&amp;cid=n00028958&amp;type=I&amp;bill_no=180394&amp;cong=113">OpenSecrets does not report any industries</a> having lobbied for <span class="caps">H.R.</span> 2657, the most likely buyers of federal lands have <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/20/politics/20land.html?pagewanted=all&amp;_r=0">historically come from the dirty energy industry</a>. </p>
<p>Next week, the Natural Resources Committee <a href="http://naturalresources.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=351787">has planned a hearing</a> on the Obama administration’s alleged animosity towards the coal industry. The hearing is bluntly titled “<a href="http://naturalresources.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=351787"><span class="caps">EPA</span> vs. American Mining Jobs: The Obama Administration’s Regulatory Assault on the Economy</a>.” </p>
<p>Perhaps the worst of all will be the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kristin-wartman/the-shutdown-our-food-saf_b_4036886.html">threats to our health</a>, and subsequent costs, that could result from the government shutdown. With many of the agencies in charge of monitoring our air and water, inspecting our food, and providing low cost or free healthcare services shut down or operating with limited personnel, American citizens have become sitting ducks for infection and disease. Perhaps the direst of these is the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2440892/Majority-food-safety-inspections-stopped-U-S-shutdown.html">lack of food safety inspections</a>, as a few tainted batches of food can poison people from coast to coast. </p>
<p>The government shutdown <a href="http://ourfuture.org/20131003/the-gops-shutdown-tab-one-billion-dollars-and-counting">is racking up its economic and environmental costs</a>. With each day that passes, those expenses are multiplied. If a deal cannot be reached soon, Congress could easily push our economy back into a full blown recession.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6383">Government</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/13927">Shutdown</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/627">Fox News</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7148">Misinformation</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/epa">EPA</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1004">economy</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6948">Cut</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5954">Budget</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2939">energy</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/13963">Permits</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9480">leasing</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/13964">Land Sales</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10221">National Park</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6079">Money</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5227">politics</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9281">Food</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6834">Safety</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11783">air</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6180">water</a></div></div></div>Fri, 04 Oct 2013 19:37:05 +0000Farron Cousins7529 at http://desmogblog.comFox Snooze: Global Warming Name Game Debunked By Media Matters (Again)http://desmogblog.com/2013/04/27/fox-snooze-global-warming-name-game
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/luntz_0.jpg?itok=gzmyurdq" width="200" height="150" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Media Matters put out a video this past week with clips of all the recent <span class="caps">FOX</span> News mentions of a global warming name conspiracy. The Fox 'conspiracy' is that 'liberals' stopped calling it global warming and started calling it climate change. Little did they realize, apparently, that the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2003/mar/04/usnews.climatechange">man responsible for the partisan polarization</a> over the terminology of climate change vs. global warming is none other than <span class="caps">FOX</span> News contributor <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/frank-luntz-can-you-trust-man">Frank Luntz</a>. Watch: <br /><br /><object height="309" width="550"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/kBhDxjzvP6c?hl=en_US&amp;version=3&amp;rel=0" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="309" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/kBhDxjzvP6c?hl=en_US&amp;version=3&amp;rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="550"></embed></object><br />
As Media Matters points out: <br />
Scientists <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/climate_by_any_other_name.html">use</a> “global warming” when speaking about the increase in average global surface temperatures. They <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/climate_by_any_other_name.html">use</a> “climate change” to refer to all the other disruptions that greenhouse gas emissions are causing – from <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/11/24/opinion/sunday/what-could-disappear.html?_r=0">rising sea levels</a>, to abruptly changing <a href="http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/future.html">precipitation</a> patterns that increase the likelihood of <a href="http://phys.org/news/2013-03-devastating-east-african-drought-climate.html">droughts</a>and <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2012/07/03/study-media-avoid-climate-context-in-wildfire-c/186921">wildfires</a> in certain areas and extreme <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-climate-change-extreme-precipitation-20130404,0,125887.story">flooding</a> in others, to <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/06/27/study-kardashians-get-40-times-more-news-covera/186703">acidifying oceans</a> that disturb the marine food web.<br /><br />
If you're still confused, head over to Joe Romm's post, <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/04/23/1909881/debunking-the-dumbest-denier-myth-again-climate-change-vs-global-warming/">Debunking The Dumbest Denier Myth (Again): ‘Climate Change’ Vs. ‘Global Warming’</a></p>
<!--break--></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/627">Fox News</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/913">global warming</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1399">Media Matters</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4606">frank luntz climate change</a></div></div></div>Sat, 27 Apr 2013 14:00:00 +0000Brendan DeMelle7104 at http://desmogblog.comHey Bill O'Reilly, You're Busted! Fan Watches 'Chasing Ice' And Now Understands Global Warming Is Realhttp://desmogblog.com/2012/11/27/hey-bill-o-reilly-you-re-busted-fan-watches-chasing-ice-and-now-understand-global-warming-real
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/368898-1348169204-main.jpeg?itok=me8wyNjG" width="200" height="160" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Bill O'Reilly has been put on notice by a former fan who claims to have watched his Fox News show every day and took his word for it that climate change is nothing to worry about. Well, today she watched the incredible new documentary film '<strong><a href="http://www.chasingice.com/">Chasing Ice</a></strong>' and left the theater determined to educate all of her friends (whom she had convinced that global warming was fake) about the reality of climate change. <br /><br />
Have you seen 'Chasing Ice' yet? (Watch the trailer below the fold.)<br /><br />
Here is a prime example why it is such an important film. Please spread the word far and wide. This could be a game changer for those who've been misled by Fox News.<br /><object height="309" width="550"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Xzw1dZNWiL8?version=3&amp;hl=en_US" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="309" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Xzw1dZNWiL8?version=3&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="550"></embed></object><br /><em><a href="http://www.upworthy.com/what-made-this-die-hard-fox-news-fan-believe-in-climate-change">H/T UpWorthy</a> and original <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xzw1dZNWiL8&amp;list=UUsPPZhXhnhzKY9oZxECl4CQ&amp;index=1&amp;feature=plcp">YouTube poster Justin Kanew</a></em></p>
<!--break-->
<p>View the trailer for Chasing Ice below, and <a href="http://www.chasingice.com/see-the-film/showtimes-2/">watch for opportunities to see it in a theater near you</a>. I saw it here in Seattle a few weeks ago and it was incredibly powerful. <br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="309" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eIZTMVNBjc4" width="550"></iframe></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11216">Chasing Ice</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6671">Documentary</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/627">Fox News</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/939">climate change</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3769">fox news global warming</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8309">Bill O&#039;Reilly</a></div></div></div>Wed, 28 Nov 2012 01:45:38 +0000Brendan DeMelle6699 at http://desmogblog.comRevealed: NERA Economic Consulting is Third Party Contractor for DOE LNG Export Studyhttp://desmogblog.com/2012/11/19/revealed-reuters-ids-nera-economic-consulting-third-party-contractor-doe-lng-export-study
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/shutterstock_33324859_0.jpg?itok=uG2wmKu4" width="200" height="131" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><em>Reuters</em> has <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/19/usa-lng-report-idUSL1E8MGE1620121119">revealed the identity of the mysterious third party contractor</a> tasked to publish the economic impact study on <span class="caps">LNG</span> (liquefied natural gas) exports on behalf of the Department of Energy (<span class="caps">DOE</span>). Its name: <span class="caps">NERA</span> Economic Consulting.</p>
<p>“<span class="caps">NERA</span>” is shorthand for <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Economic_Research_Associates">National Economic Research Associates</a>, an economic consulting firm <em>SourceWatch</em> identifies as the entity that published a <a href="http://www.americaspower.org/new-analysis-finds-epas-power-plant-regulations-would-increase-electricity-costs-lose-jobs-0">June 2011 report</a> on behalf of coal industry front group <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Coalition_for_Clean_Coal_Electricity">American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity</a> (<span class="caps">ACCCE</span>). <span class="caps">ACCCE</span>'s report <a href="http://www.americaspower.org/new-analysis-finds-epas-power-plant-regulations-would-increase-electricity-costs-lose-jobs-0">concluded</a>, “clean-air rules proposed by the Obama administration would cost utilities $17.8 billion annually and raise electricity rates 11.5 percent on average in 2016.”</p>
<p>That report went so far to say that Environmental Protection Agency (<span class="caps">EPA</span>) <a href="http://www.utilityproducts.com/news/2012/11/02/nera-analysis-finds-epa-regulations-could-cost-1-5-million-jobs-over-next-4-years.html">regulations of the coal-generated electrcity sector would amount to some 1.5 million lost jobs</a> over the next four years.</p>
<p><span class="caps">NERA</span> was founded by <a href="http://www.hudson.org/learn/index.cfm?fuseaction=staff_bio&amp;eid=StelIrwi">Irwin Stelzer</a>, senior fellow and director of the right-wing <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Hudson_Institute">Hudson Institute</a>’s Center for Economic Policy. In Oct. 2004, <em>The Guardian</em> <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2004/oct/17/media.mediabusiness">described Stelzer</a> as the “right-hand man of Rupert Murdoch,” the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=K._Rupert_Murdoch"><span class="caps">CEO</span> of News Corp.</a>, which owns Fox News. </p>
<p>According to <span class="caps">NERA</span>'s website, the late Alfred E. Kahn, the “<a href="http://news.cornell.edu/stories/Dec10/KahnObit.html">father of deregulation</a>,” <a href="http://www.nera.com/7250.htm">advised <span class="caps">NERA</span>'s 1961 foundation</a>. </p>
<!--break-->
<p>In 2010, <span class="caps">NERA</span> <a href="http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/permits_ej_operations_pdf/ipnerareport.pdf">published a letter</a> to the New York Department of Environmental Protection (<span class="caps">DEP</span>) to protest the prospective closure of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Indian_Point_(Nuclear_Power_Station)">Indian Point Nuclear Power Plants</a>.</p>
<p>A <span class="caps">NERA</span> <a href="http://www.nera.com/nera-files/PUB_MATS_Rule_0312.pdf">report from earlier this year</a> provided the basis for the popular King Coal refrain that the <span class="caps">EPA</span>'s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (<span class="caps">MATS</span>) Rule would cost the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> tens of billions of dollars and “kill” 180,000-215,000 jobs.<br /><br /><a href="http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.PressReleases&amp;ContentRecord_id=b9cacaf1-802a-23ad-4459-39890f9d90ff">These figures were picked up and cited</a> by <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/james-inhofe-shilling-god-or-oil-correct-answer-both">climate change denier <span class="caps">U.S.</span> Sen. James Inhofe (R-<span class="caps">OK</span>)</a> in June when he spoke out against President Barack Obama's mythological “war on coal,” as well as by the Republican Policy Committee in a May policy paper titled, “<a href="http://www.rpc.senate.gov/policy-papers/obamas-war-on-coal">Obama’s War on Coal</a>.” </p>
<p>With a track record like this, it's best to view whatever report the Obama Administration's <span class="caps">DOE</span> (aka <span class="caps">NERA</span>) produces on the economic impact of <span class="caps">LNG</span> exports, <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2012/11/15/u-s-confirms-lng-export-review-by-years-end/">set to come out by the end of the year</a>, with extreme skepticism if not downright hostility.</p>
<p><strong>Photo Credit</strong>: <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-87646p1.html">Oleksandr Kalinichenko</a> | <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&amp;search_source=search_form&amp;version=llv1&amp;anyorall=all&amp;safesearch=1&amp;searchterm=lng+tanker&amp;search_group=&amp;orient=&amp;search_cat=&amp;searchtermx=&amp;photographer_name=&amp;people_gender=&amp;people_age=&amp;people_ethnicity=&amp;people_number=&amp;commercial_ok=&amp;color=&amp;show_color_wheel=1#id=33324859&amp;src=d8a83fdab5dc6c18086797908811d8aa-1-0">ShutterStock</a></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11078">NERA Economic Consulting</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11079">New York Department of Environmental Protection</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11080">Indian Point Nuclear Plants</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/911">new york</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9229">DEP</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11081">Deregulation</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11082">Republican Policy Committee</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1471">Environmental Protection Agency</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/epa">EPA</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8655">King Coal</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2832">coal industry</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/662">coal</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11083">Coal-Powered Electricity</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/dennis-avery">Dennis Avery</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/climate-change-denial">climate change denial</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/939">climate change</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2214">climate change deniers</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11084">Hudson Institute’s Center for Economic Policy</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3354">The Guardian</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/rupert-murdoch">rupert murdoch</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/627">Fox News</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6913">News Corporation</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6912">News Corp.</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3844">Obama administration</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11085">Obama Administration DOE</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11086">Obama administration Department of Energy</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7345">Liquefied Natural Gas</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11087">liquefied natural gas exports</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11088">Obama’s War on Coal</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5698">war on coal</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1193">jim inhofe</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/634">James Inhofe</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11089">U.S. Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK)</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11090">U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK)</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11091">NERA</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11092">National Economic Research Associates</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/sourcewatch">sourcewatch</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11093">Alfred E. Kahn</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6639">LNG</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7679">doe</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2797">Department of Energy</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2930">American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2931">ACCCE</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5133">fracking</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5137">hydraulic fracturing</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5565">shale gas</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7277">shale oil</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6344">unconventional gas</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8931">unconventional oil</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2800">natural gas</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7904">LNG Exports</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/hudson-institute">Hudson Institute</a></div></div></div>Tue, 20 Nov 2012 01:43:01 +0000Steve Horn6674 at http://desmogblog.comMerchants of Doubt Deny Climate Change Connection to Hurricane Sandyhttp://desmogblog.com/2012/10/31/merchants-doubt-deny-climate-change-connection-hurricane-sandy
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/GP04B7H.jpeg?itok=X-hRGbg4" width="200" height="133" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Many serious, thought-provoking post-mortems have ensued in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, which recently <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/10/31/climate-silence-no-more-sandy-rips-through-east-coast">tore through the heart of the financial capital of the world</a>. The disaster will cost the city roughly $60 billion to repair, <a href="http://Hurricane Sandy Estimated to Cost $60 Billion">according to an <em>Associated Press </em>report</a>. </p>
<p>Figures such as New York Gov. <a href="http://statepolitics.lohudblogs.com/2012/10/30/cuomo-we-have-a-new-reality-when-it-comes-to-these-weather-patterns/">Andrew Cuomo</a>, former President <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7T-Wy17U6M">Bill Clinton</a>, writer and activist <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/31/sandy-climate-change-us-election?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+theguardian%2Fcommentisfree%2Frss+(Comment+is+free)">Bill McKibben</a>, environmental reporter <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/170918/hurricane-sandy-greek-tragedy">Mark Hertsgaard</a>, and numerous others all have connected the dots between the tragedy in New York City and its excerbation at the hands of climate change. </p>
<p>On the other side of the spectrum, no matter how bad the tragedy, it seems, climate change denial will continue apace by the “<a href="http://www.merchantsofdoubt.org/">merchants of doubt</a>.” Hurricane Sandy was no exception this time around.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/patrick-michaels">Patrick Michaels</a> of the Koch-funded Cato Institute - who recently authored a report described by <em>Greenpeace <span class="caps">USA</span></em>'s Connor Gibson as a “<a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/10/22/koch-brothers-produce-counterfeit-climate-report-deceive-congress">Counterfeit Climate Report to Deceive Congress</a>” - denied any connection between climate change and Sandy, going so far as to raise the specter of “global cooling.” </p>
<!--break-->
<p>“It’s also consistent with a planet with colder temperatures as well as one with warmer ones,” <a href="http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/the-frankenstorm-in-climate-context/">he told Andy Revkin of <em>The New York Times</em></a>. “More important, events like this are inevitable on a planet that has an ocean with the geography of the Atlantic (meaning a Gulf Stream-like feature), a large north-south continent on its western margin without a transverse mountain range to inhibit the merger of tropical warmth with polar cold, and four seasons in the temperate latitudes.” </p>
<p>Revkin neglected to mention that Michaels told <i><span class="caps">CNN</span></i> in August 2010 that <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;v=fguJod_voPc">40-percent of his salary comes straight from the coffers of the oil and gas industry</a>, which <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/slamming-the-climate-skeptic-scam">fuels the climate change denial echo chamber</a>. In similar fashion, back in 2006, <a href="http://www2.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&amp;STORY=/www/story/03-30-2006/0004330403&amp;EDATE=">Michaels denied any connection between climate change and Hurricane Katrina</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/marc-morano">Marc Morano</a> - a climate change denier who gleefully <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/climate-denier-marc-morano-praises-george-w-obama-cop17">lauded President Barack Obama as “George W. Obama”</a> for his inaction on tackling climate change in any meaningful way at last year's United Nations' <span class="caps">COP</span>17 in Durban - also inserted his own polemical take on Hurricane Sandy, <a href="http://www.climatedepot.com/a/18238/Scientists-reject-SandyClimate-Link--Warmists-Go-Full-Tabloid-Climatology--Claim-Sandy-Speaks--Round-Up-of-Hurricane-Sandy-Reactions">stating</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>These new 'Tabloid Climatology' claims by activists attempting to link any weather event to man-made global warming are disgusting. The 'new normal' for climate activists is their ever shifting claims as they morph the entire <span class="caps">AGW</span> argument to focus on extreme weather. They are exploiting any weather event to promote their religious like cause and a storm like Sandy is shamelessly used to gin up fear.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><em>Fox News</em>, as always, served as a key piece of the climate change denial machine's echo chamber. This time around it gave denier <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/joe-bastardi">Joe Bastardi</a> the megaphone on <em>The Sean Hannity Show</em>, where he <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ineqGFSd6PE">denied any connection between climate change and Hurricane Sandy</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Let me tell you, this storm was long overdue…Get used to it along the east coast…We are in a perilous time because the Atlantic's warming, the Pacific's cold, it's the 1950's all over again. The next 5-10 years we're probably going to see several more storms along the eastern seaboard. It has nothing to due with global warming, it has everything to do with nature and then we'll go back to where we were in the '60s and '70s.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Above and beyond this trifecta denying any connection between Hurricane Sandy and climate change, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Climate_Depot"><em>Climate Depot</em></a> has <a href="http://www.climatedepot.com/a/18238/Scientists-reject-SandyClimate-Link--Warmists-Go-Full-Tabloid-Climatology--Claim-Sandy-Speaks--Round-Up-of-Hurricane-Sandy-Reactions">compiled a long list of statements from the denier world</a>. <em>Media Matters</em> also showed that <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2012/10/31/fox-hurricane-sandy-has-nothing-to-do-with-glob/191018"><em>Fox News</em> repeated the “no connection”</a> trope on multiple occasions. </p>
<p>If one thing's for certain, Sandy has made evident that no climate change-amplified catastrophe is too tragic for the tobacco playbook team to deny the <a href="http://daraint.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/CVM2ndEd-FrontMatter.pdf">ongoing climate crisis</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Photo Credit</strong>: <a href="http://photo.greenpeace.org/C.aspx?VP3=ViewBox_VPage&amp;VBID=27MZV84X5DUI&amp;IT=ZoomImageTemplate01_VForm&amp;IID=27MZIFVAA44S&amp;PN=8&amp;CT=Search">Greenpeace</a> | <a href="http://photo.greenpeace.org/C.aspx?VP3=ViewBox&amp;VBID=27MZV84X58IX&amp;IT=ThumbImage01_VForm&amp;CT=Search&amp;RW=1256&amp;RH=593">Tim Aubry</a></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/bill-mckibben">Bill McKibben</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/715">Andy Revkin</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1916">global cooling</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1370">cnn</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4878">Joe Bastardi</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7911">George W. Obama</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7890">cop17</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/856">united nations</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10802">Durban Climate Conference</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/the-new-york-times">The New York Times</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10803">Mark Hertsgaard</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7407">Greenpeace USA</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10804">Connor Gibson</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1396">pat michaels</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/patrick-michaels">patrick michaels</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/cato-institute">cato institute</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5187">Koch brothers</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5188">Kochtopus</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1800">koch industries</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4027">Koch Family Foundations</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1278">Associated Press</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8227">AP</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10805">Hurricane Sandy Damage</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/bill-clinton">Bill Clinton</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6285">andrew cuomo</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/911">new york</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7257">new york city</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1196">marc morano</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4621">Climate Depot</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/climate-change-denial">climate change denial</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5081">Merchants of Doubt</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10806">Greedy Lying Basterds</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7481">climate change skepticism</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/climate-change-skeptics">climate change skeptics</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/627">Fox News</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8164">Media Matters for America</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1836">Sean Hannity</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10807">The Sean Hannity Show</a></div></div></div>Thu, 01 Nov 2012 16:43:37 +0000Steve Horn6627 at http://desmogblog.comPetroleum Broadcasting System's "Newshour" and the Merchants of Climate Doubthttp://desmogblog.com/2012/09/18/petroleum-broadcasting-system-s-newshour-and-merchants-climate-doubt
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/newshour_watts_denial.png?itok=cwm8nx11" width="200" height="188" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>There's an old <a href="http://www.quotes.net/quote/2662">German proverb</a> that goes, “Whose bread I eat his song I sing.”</p>
<p>Enter a recent spate of reportage by the Public Broadcasting System's (<span class="caps">PBS</span>)<em> ”</em>Newshour<em>.”</em> In a September 17 story titled, “<a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2012/09/why-the-global-warming-crowd-oversells-its-message.html">Climate Change Skeptic Says Global Warming Crowd Oversells Its Message</a>” (with a <span class="caps">URL</span> titled, “<a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2012/09/why-the-global-warming-crowd-oversells-its-message.html">Why the Global Warming Crowd Oversells its Message</a>”) the Newshour “provided an unchecked platform for Anthony Watts, a virulent climate change denier funded by the Heartland Institute,” <a href="http://act.engagementlab.org/sign/climate_pbs_watts/">as described</a> by <em><a href="http://forecastthefacts.org/about/">Forecast the Facts</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Forecast the Facts</em> created <a href="http://act.engagementlab.org/sign/climate_pbs_watts/">a petition</a> demanding that the “<span class="caps">PBS</span> ombudsman…immediately investigate how this segment came to be aired,” <a href="http://act.engagementlab.org/sign/climate_pbs_watts/">stating that</a>, “This is the kind of reporting we expect from Fox News, not <span class="caps">PBS</span>.”</p>
<p>Very true, this is exactly the type of reporting <a href="http://www.outfoxed.org/">we've come to expect out of Rupert Murdoch's Fox News</a>, a cable “news” network that <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Fox_News">provides a voice for right-wing propagandists</a> on all policy issues, including <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2011/11/18/372313/yes-virginia-fox-news-lies-about-climate-change/?mobile=nc">climate change denial</a>. But perhaps expectations are too high for <em><span class="caps">PBS</span></em>' “Newshour” and we should've expected exactly what we got: a friendly platform for the climate change denying <a href="http://www.merchantsofdoubt.org/">merchants of doubt</a>. </p>
<p>What's at play here goes above and beyond a single bad story by “Newshour.” Rather, it's a small piece and the result of an aggressive campaign that's been going on for nearly two decades to destroy public television in the public interest.</p>
<p>Based on the shift in how the “Newshour” has funded itself over the years, it's evident that the once-esteemed ”<a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/aboutus/history.html">MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour</a>” streamed on the Public Broadcasting System has transformed <span class="caps">PBS</span> into what investigative reporter Greg Palast calls the “<a href="http://www.gregpalast.com/the-petroleum-broadcast-systemowes-us-an-apology/">Petroleum Broadcasting System</a>.”</p>
<!--break-->
<h3>
“Petroleum Broadcasting System” Sponsored by Chevron, Koch Industries, ExxonMobil, Et Al </h3>
<p>In an October 2010 story, Palast pointed out that the “Newshour” is <a href="http://www.gregpalast.com/the-petroleum-broadcast-systemowes-us-an-apology/">funded by Chevron</a> in critiquing its softball coverage of the <span class="caps">BP</span> oil disaster. This led him to refer to <span class="caps">PBS</span> as the “<a href="http://www.gregpalast.com/the-petroleum-broadcast-systemowes-us-an-apology/">Petroleum Broadcasting System</a>.”</p>
<p>Above and beyond funding from Chevron, “Newshour” also lists Burlington Northern Santa Fe (<span class="caps">BNSF</span>), owned by Warren Buffett under the auspices of Berkshire Hathaway, as a <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/aboutus/">sponsor</a>. As previously reported here on DeSmog, <span class="caps">BNSF</span> - the second largest freight rail company in the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> behind Union Pacific - is a <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/warren-buffett-exposed-oracle-omaha-and-tar-sands">major transporter of tar sands infrastucture</a> to the Alberta tar sands. It's also a major mover of <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/b-c-protest-saturday-stop-warren-buffett-s-bnsf-coal-trains">coal being sent to coastal terminals</a> and exported to Asia.</p>
<p><span class="caps">BNSF</span> also <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/print-edition/2012/06/22/bnsf-railway-co-inks-deal-with-us.html?page=all">inked a deal</a> in June 2012 with <a href="http://www.ussilica.com/about"><span class="caps">U.S.</span> Silica Holdings Inc.</a> to “build and run a major warehousing operation…to store sand destined for the Eagle Ford Shale.” The Texas-based <a href="http://www.chron.com/business/article/Eagle-Ford-a-contender-for-top-U-S-play-3742422.php">Eagle Ford Shale basin</a>, like all shale basins, requires vast amounts of fracking sand (aka sillica sand) in order to tap into the gas located deep within the shale reservoir. This sand predominantly comes from western Wisconsin's “<a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/sand-land-frac-sand-mining-western-wisconsin-video-report-desmogblog">sand land</a>,” as we explained in a recent short documentary.</p>
<p>The <em>San Antonio Business Journal</em> <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/print-edition/2012/06/22/bnsf-railway-co-inks-deal-with-us.html?page=all">explained the situation in-depth</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The proposed facility, scheduled to open in early 2013, will be constructed on 290 acres of land the railroad purchased late last year. It will be able to store up to 15,000 tons of sand used by drillers during the hydraulic fracturing process to release oil and gas from dense shale rock.</p>
<p>The Fort Worth-based railway will haul up to 40,000 tons of silica sand and other products per month to San Antonio from <span class="caps">U.S.</span> Silica operations in Ottawa, Ill., and Rochelle, Ill.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>To top it off, Buffett himself has major personal investments in Big Oil, <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/warren-buffett-exposed-oracle-omaha-and-tar-sands">as we've written about on DeSmog</a>. As of August 2011, he owned 29.1 million shares of stock in ConocoPhillips, 421,800 shares of stock in ExxonMobil, and 7.777 million shares of stock in General Electric, all three of which are involved in various aspects of the tar sands extraction industry and the shale gas extraction industry.</p>
<p>In sum, <span class="caps">BNSF</span> is cashing in big time from the shale gas boom, the tar sands boom, and the coal export boom. </p>
<p>Koch Industries - a <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/heartland-institute-manifestation-kochtopus-empire">major Heartland Institute funder and key behind its founding</a> - has also funded <span class="caps">PBS</span>' “<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2010/09/07/206688/pbs-ombudsman-michael-getler-whitewashes-the-koch-funded-greenwashing-episode-of-nova-that-whitewashes-the-threat-of-human-caused-climate-change/">Nova</a>” to the tune of $7 million. ExxonMobil <a href="http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/exxonmobil-resumes-its-pbs-sponsorship/">has also provided funds </a>to <span class="caps">PBS</span>' “Nova,” “Nightly Business Report” and “Masterpiece Theatre.” Both <a href="http://www.exxonsecrets.org/maps.php">ExxonMobil</a> and <a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/">Koch Industries</a> are among the top funders of the climate change denial machine.</p>
<h3>
The Plan: Cut Public Funding, Make <span class="caps">PBS</span> Rely on Fossil Fuel Industry Money</h3>
<p>Looking at the situation more broadly, it's important to understand that <span class="caps">PBS</span> didn't <em>always</em> rely on fossil fuel industry largesse to keep itself afloat.</p>
<p>Rather, over the past two decades, <span class="caps">PBS</span> has been <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/02/15-9">under attack by the Republican Party</a>, with constant threats and a coordinated campaign to defund a network originally set up to be a public educational service via the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Broadcasting_Act_of_1967">Public Broadcasting Act of 1967</a>.</p>
<p>As explained in a <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/02/15-9">February 2011 <em><span class="caps">ABC</span> News</em> story</a>,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>One of Newt Gingrich's first acts as speaker of the House in 1995 was to call for the elimination of federal funding for <span class="caps">CPB</span>, and for the privatization of public broadcasting. Neither attempt was successful, though it did keep the hot-button issue in the limelight for years. </p>
<p>During the early 2011 budget debates, <em><span class="caps">ABC</span> </em>explained that “The House Republicans' budget would rescind any funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting – which partially supports these two organizations – for the remainder of the year, and zero out millions in funds after that.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>President Barack Obama joined in on the attack on public television with his “bipartisan deficit commission” – referred to as the “<a href="http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/08/26/dear-president-obama-time-to-can-the-catfood-commission/">Catfood Commission</a>” by <em>FireDogLake</em> – calling for “eliminating funding for the <span class="caps">CPB</span>, estimating that it would save the government $500 million in 2015,” <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/02/15-9"><em><span class="caps">ABC</span> </em>explained</a>. His Republican Party opponent for the 2012 presidential race, Mitt Romney, has also <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/15/mitt-romney-tax-cuts_n_1778429.html">called for the defunding of <span class="caps">PBS</span></a>.</p>
<p>Private funding of what was originally supposed to be a publicly-funded television station comes with its own agenda. This agenda departs from the <a href="http://www.cpb.org/aboutpb/act/PublicBroadcastingAct1967.pdf">mission set out by the 1967 Act</a>, which deemed it “in the public interest to encourage the growth and development of public…television broadcasting, including the use of such media for instructional, educational, and cultural purposes” and said it “should be created…to afford maximum protection from extraneous interference and control.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/business/media/19newshour.html"><em>The New York Times</em> said it best</a> in a May 2008 story: benevolent corporate underwriting of public television is “increasingly out of step with the…needs of corporations” as they don't “sponsor public television programs for purely philanthropic reasons.”</p>
<h3>
Plenty of Money for <span class="caps">PSYOP</span>s Campaigns Abroad</h3>
<p>Even <span class="caps">PBS</span> President Paula Kerger has internalized the message that the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> government is “broke,” <a href="http://www.current.org/2012/07/house-labor-hhs-proposal-would-slash-pubcasting-funding-zero-it-out-in-fy15/">stating</a> after the latest attempt to defund <span class="caps">NPR</span> by House Republicans, “While we understand the many difficult decisions appropriators must make and that the nation is facing challenging economic times, if enacted, such drastic cuts in federal funding could have a devastating effect on public television stations.”</p>
<p>Far from being strapped for cash, though, the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> government has plenty of money to spend on overseas psychological operations (<span class="caps">PSYOP</span>s) campaigns around the world of the sort <a href="http://desmogblog.com/gas-fracking-industry-using-military-psychological-warfare-tactics-and-personnel-u-s-communities">covered by DeSmog</a> during the <a href="http://truth-out.org/news/item/7153:fracking-and-psychological-operations-empire-comes-home">shale gas industry's <span class="caps">PSYOP</span>s revelation</a> of November 2011.<br /><br />
Media scholar Bob McChesney <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/7/as_public_broadcasting_and_community_media">explained this phenomenon</a> in a March 2011 <em>Democracy Now! </em>appearance, during the middle of the previous round of <span class="caps">PBS</span> funding cuts debate in the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> House of Representatives:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You know, currently the United States spends roughly twice as much money bankrolling international broadcasting — Voice of America and the various Radio Martís and things like that — than it does paying for domestic public broadcasting and community broadcasting, roughly twice as much — $750 million, roughly, last year. And the idea of raising that and putting more propaganda out to sort of enhance the view of the United States vis-à-vis other nations of the world is entirely the wrong way to go. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>That $750 million is more than the $500 President Obama said the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> could save by slashing publicly-funded media. In leiu of public funding, American citizens are being shafted with fossil fuel-funded disinformation here at home, while subsidizing it with their tax dollars abroad. </p>
<p>Unless we see big changes in funding for public television, it'll continue to be a standard operating procedure for outlets like <span class="caps">PBS</span> to transform into iterations of the newfangled “Petroleum Broadcasting System” - and to end where we began - play the game of “Whose bread I eat his song I sing.”</p>
<p><strong>Image Credit</strong>: <em><a href="http://act.engagementlab.org/sign/climate_pbs_watts/">Forecast the Facts</a></em></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8218">Forecast the Facts</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9289">Sand Land</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9264">Frac Sand</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5133">fracking</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10199">coal export boom</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9267">Shale Gas Boom</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10200">tar sands boom</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10216">Radio Marti</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10202">Catfood Commission</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3350">Anthony Watts</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5081">Merchants of Doubt</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5075">BP oil spill</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/657">ExxonMobil</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10203">U.S. Silica Holdings Inc.</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10204">San Antonio Business Journal</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1270">Newt Gingrich</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/850">abc news</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2632">tar sands</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/oil-sands">oil sands</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5565">shale gas</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7277">shale oil</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7759">Eagle Ford Shale</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7461">Warren Buffett</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10205">FireDogLake</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10206">Corporation for Public Broadcasting</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4103">republican party</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7666">psyops</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8901">Psychological Operations</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7650">psychological warfare</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10207">DeSmogBlog PSYOPs</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10208">DeSmogBlog Psychological Operations</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8958">coal exports</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10209">Coal Exports Asia</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/general-electric">General electric</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5127">conocophillips</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/chevron">chevron</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8244">BNSF</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2509">alberta tar sands</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10210">Berkshire Northern Santa Fe</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8765">President Barack Obama</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2257">mitt romney</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/821">Heartland Institute</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/rupert-murdoch">rupert murdoch</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/627">Fox News</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7463">Berkshire Hathaway</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8265">Union Pacific</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10211">Freight Rail Fossil Fuel Transport</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8662">Greg Palast</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10212">MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10213">Petroleum Broadcasting System</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10214">Bob McChesney</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9856">Democracy Now!</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10215">Voice of America</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10217">Public Broadcasting System</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10180">PBS</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10218">Whose bread I eat his song I sing</a></div></div></div>Wed, 19 Sep 2012 18:14:25 +0000Steve Horn6528 at http://desmogblog.comMedia Fails Again On Climate Change Coverage During Massive Heat Waveshttp://desmogblog.com/media-fails-again-climate-change-coverage-during-massive-heat-waves
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/corporate%20media%20ball%20chain.jpg?itok=b4gpgEoQ" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>North America just witnessed the <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/08/120808-hottest-month-july-warming-temperature-dust-bowl-nation-science/">hottest month in the history of record keeping</a> (about 117 years). The month of July shattered every previous record, but was certainly not a freak occurrence. So far, the first 7 months of this year have been <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/08/120808-hottest-month-july-warming-temperature-dust-bowl-nation-science/">the warmest on average</a> since records began over a century ago. Media outlets were abuzz with coverage of floods, droughts, fires, and storms, so naturally you’d think climate change would have played a massive role in their coverage.<br /><br />
You’d be wrong.<br /><br />
A <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2012/08/15/tv-media-ignore-climate-change-in-coverage-of-r/189366">great new study by Media Matters for America</a> shows that our major media outlets – from cable news to print – almost completely ignored the role that man-made climate change played in our severe weather.<br /><br /><a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2012/08/15/tv-media-ignore-climate-change-in-coverage-of-r/189366">According to the study</a>, only about 25% of print articles on the massive heat wave even mentioned climate change, while less than 9% of <span class="caps">TV</span> news stories about the weather mentioned climate change. Of the major cable outlets, <span class="caps">MSNBC</span> devoted the most time to discussing climate change, bringing up the issue in about 88% of their stories on the heat wave.<br /><br />
Not surprisingly, <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2012/08/15/tv-media-ignore-climate-change-in-coverage-of-r/189366">Fox News only mentioned climate change once</a>, and the theory was quickly shot down by conservative hosts.<br /><br />
From the <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2012/08/15/tv-media-ignore-climate-change-in-coverage-of-r/189366">Media Matters report</a>:</p>
<!--break-->
<blockquote>
Of the six <span class="caps">TV</span> outlets included in our analysis, <span class="caps">ABC</span> mentioned climate change the least, in only 2% of coverage. Among the cable networks, <span class="caps">CNN</span> mentioned climate change the least, in less than 4% of coverage. <span class="caps">MSNBC</span> was the only television network to regularly incorporate climate change into primetime segments on extreme heat.<br /><br />
Fox Mentioned Climate Change Once, Only To Dismiss It. In six primetime segments on extreme heat, Fox News raised climate change once. The Five's only liberal co-host Bob Beckel noted that record July heat is consistent with global warming, and was promptly dismissed by co-host Greg Gutfeld, who routinely denies that manmade global warming is occurring.<br /><br />
Overall, the major print outlets mentioned climate change in just over a quarter of articles on extreme heat. The New York Times led the pack, mentioning climate change in more than half of its coverage (54.5%), and the Washington Post mentioned it in 26% of articles on July heat. But the Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times, and <span class="caps">USA</span> Today mentioned it in less than 15% of coverage. The Wall Street Journal didn't mention climate change at all, although the paper had significantly fewer stories on extreme heat.<br /><br />
Only 8% Of Coverage Pointed Out That Human Activities Are Driving Climate Change. Only 6% of television segments and 12% of print articles noted that climate change is fueled by human activities including the burning of fossil fuels, which emit greenhouse gases that are warming the planet. The Associated Press, <span class="caps">USA</span> Today, Fox News and the Wall Street Journal never made that connection.<br />
</blockquote>
<p>Media Matters <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2012/08/15/tv-media-ignore-climate-change-in-coverage-of-r/189366">also took the time</a> to show that these events were predictable, and that they were consistent with the effects we were expecting with anthropogenic climate change:<br /> </p>
<blockquote>
A 2012 Special Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (<span class="caps">IPCC</span>) deemed it “virtually certain” that heat extremes will become stronger and more frequent on a global scale in the 21st century, and “very likely” that heat waves will increase in “length, frequency, and/or intensity … over most land areas.” The report noted that “[p]rojected changes at subcontinental scales are less certain than is the case for the global scale” and that “[m]ean global warming does not necessarily imply warming in all regions and seasons.”<br /><br />
A study by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's James Hansen and other scientists found that land areas across the globe are “much more likely to experience an extreme summer heat wave than they were in the middle of the 20th century”.<br />
</blockquote>
<p>But this isn’t the first time that the media has failed in their coverage of climate and environment-related events. In January of this year, <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/media-matters-analysis-shows-keystone-xl-proponents-dominated-media">Media Matters put together a report</a> showing that media outlets were almost twice as likely to host Keystone <span class="caps">XL</span> proponents in their coverage of that issue. <a href="http://desmogblog.com/media-matters-report-shows-network-tv-preference-anti-environment-guests">A report from the organization last year</a> also showed that climate skeptics and anti-<span class="caps">EPA</span> carpers were more likely to receive airtime than those who acknowledge climate change science and support strong environmental safeguards.<br /><br />
The poor media coverage could be the main reason why <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2012/07/30/poll-global-warming-and-taxing-the-rich-rank-low-on-voters-radar/">American voters don’t believe that climate and environment issues are important</a> in this year’s elections, with only 21% saying that combatting climate change is important to them. Canadians, on the other hand, have clearly learned more than Americans simply by observation, as a <a href="http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2012/07/poll-generation-x-unconcerned-about-climate-change/1?csp=34news#.UCveKES5KTY">new poll shows that only 2%</a> of Canadians believe that climate change is a hoax.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/noaa">NOAA</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/msnbc">MSNBC</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/canada">canada</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/627">Fox News</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/939">climate change</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1399">Media Matters</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5445">election</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5857">Keystone XL</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6325">Study</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6651">Poll</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7712">Coverage</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9551">Record</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9970">Heat Wave</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9971">July</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9972">USA</a></div></div></div>Wed, 15 Aug 2012 17:54:30 +0000Farron Cousins6468 at http://desmogblog.comLatest Pro-Keystone XL Website Backed by GOP Special Interest Grouphttp://desmogblog.com/latest-pro-keystone-xl-website-backed-gop-special-interest-group
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/kerpin.jpeg?itok=mZ2U7hIf" alt="Phil Kerpen" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>This morning, the latest in pro-tar sands spin went live. <a href="http://KeystoneXLNow.com">KeystoneXLNow.com</a> takes aim at President Obama for failing to approve the Keystone <span class="caps">XL</span> project (even though the White House just <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/27/transcanada-keystone-idUSL4E8IR3UE20120727">announced approval of the southern leg today</a>), calling it “an affront to millions of Americans out of work and an outrage to millions more who are paying higher energy costs as a result of this administration's policies.”<br /><br />
KeystoneXLNow.com invites users to send a message directly to the State Department to counterbalance <strong>“the crazy lefties [who] are already pouring in comments to give Obama an excuse to kill the pipeline.” </strong>The site calls on users to “push back by filling the official State Department docket with comments demanding they stop stalling and approve the Keystone <span class="caps">XL</span> pipeline now!”</p>
<p>Not only is KeystoneXLnow.com rife with faulty facts, but its backers and secret funders make an oil trail back to the <span class="caps">GOP</span> and oil-backed right wing think tanks. </p>
<!--break-->
<p><a href="http://KeystoneXLNow.com">KeystoneXLnow.com</a> argues the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> State Department should expedite the review process of the Keystone <span class="caps">XL</span> because it could take years, and, worst case scenario, Canada will simply give up and build the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline to ship tar sands crude to Asia.<br /><br />
Failing to approve this tar sands pipeline project now will threaten “about 20,000 immediate jobs, a secure supply of North American oil, billions in private investment, and the global efficiency benefits of connecting a major crude source to the world’s most efficient refining center,” the site claims.</p>
<p>Canadian oil giant TransCanada quickly <a href="https://twitter.com/transcanada/status/228873922412683264">tweeted about the campaign,</a> which claims to have sent 13,000 emails and letters so far. </p>
<p>A closer look at the website registration for <a href="http://KeystoneXLnow.com">KeystoneXLnow.com</a> reveals the site was registered this morning to <strong>Phil Kerpen of the free market group <a href="http://www.americancommitment.org/">American Commitment</a>. </strong><br /><img alt="" src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Screen shot 2012-07-27 at 11.35.32 AM.png" style="width: 550px; height: 530px;" /><br /><br />
According to its website, American Commitment is “dedicated to restoring and protecting America’s core commitment to free markets, economic growth, Constitutionally-limited government, property rights, and individual freedom”.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/the-latest-gop-player-american-commitment/2012/07/10/gJQARbV4aW_blog.html">The Washington Post</a> calls American Commitment “the latest <span class="caps">GOP</span> player”, and notes the new group has already raised $7 million to attack Democrats, mostly at the state level. Apparently they aren't only focused on state-level battles. </p>
<p>In addition to his role as the president of American Commitment, Phil Kerpen is a columnist on Fox News Opinion, chairman of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Internet_Freedom_Coalition">Internet Freedom Coalition</a>, and author of the book <a href="http://heartland.org/events/heartland-author-series-phil-kerpen">Democracy Denied</a>, part of the <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/heartland-institute">Heartland Institute</a>'s Author Series.<br /><br />
Kerpen previously worked for the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Club_for_Growth">Club for Growth</a>, a Club offshoot called the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Free_Enterprise_Fund">Free Enterprise Fund</a> and the libertarian <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Cato">Cato Institute</a>.<br /><br />
Kerpen also <a href="http://americansforprosperity.org/newsroom/041212-americans-prosperity-foundation-commends-phil-kerpen-wishes-him-well/">spent the last five years</a> working at <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/americans-prosperity-history-research-background-funding">Americans for Prosperity</a>, co-founded by David Koch. Kerpen will not confirm whether the <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/5188">Kochtopus</a> is bankrolling his latest front group.</p>
<p>As for the job creation claims that KeystoneXLnow.com touts, even TransCanada acknowledges that the claim that the project will create 20,000 immediate jobs is false.</p>
<p>TransCanada itself claims the project will create 13,000 direct construction jobs, a number from a report TransCanada commissioned from the Perryman Group. The Perryman Group, however, has refused to release important data behind its estimate, and <a href="http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/globallaborinstitute/research/upload/GLI_KeystoneXL_Reportpdf.pdf">there are deep flaws in their research methodology</a>. In reality, TransCanada is counting “job years” in its job-creation estimates. In other words, <strong>TransCanada believes the project will produce 6,500 jobs that last for two years only.</strong></p>
<p>Six thousand five hundred jobs is a far cry from the 20,000 KeystoneXLnow.com claims are at stake, but according to an independent assessment by <a href="http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/globallaborinstitute/research/upload/GLI_KeystoneXL_Reportpdf.pdf">Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations</a>, even the 6,500-job estimate is exaggerated. According to their analysis, the project would produce between 2,500 and 4,650 construction jobs – <strong>and could even end up <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2011/12/08/fox-still-pushing-discredited-keystone-xl-pipel/151455">costing the country jobs</a></strong>.</p>
<p>KeystoneXLNow.com also claims that <span class="caps">KXL</span> will provide “a secure supply of North American oil”, and blames the Obama Administration's policies can for high energy prices. But according to TransCanada, <strong><span class="caps">KXL</span> will increase the price of heavy crude oil in the Midwest by almost $2 to $4 billion annually</strong>, and those prices could further escalate over several years. This is because tar sands crude that now supplies Midwest refineries will be diverted so it can be sold at higher prices to the Gulf Coast and other export markets.<br /><br />
Consumers in the Midwest could pay 10 to 20 cents more per gallon for gasoline and diesel – adding $5 billion to annual <span class="caps">US</span> fuel costs.</p>
<p>In case there was a shadow of a doubt, KeystoneXLnow.com is little more than a secretly funded special interest group backing <span class="caps">GOP</span> candidates, using misinformation that is delaying our transition to a clean energy future. </p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/hilary-clinton">hilary clinton</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/627">Fox News</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2632">tar sands</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2702">obama</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2738">oilsands</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4023">AFP</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4515">Americans for Prosperity</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5857">Keystone XL</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6584">pipeline</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8276">kxl</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9822">KeystoneXLNow.com</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9823">Secretary of State</a></div></div></div>Fri, 27 Jul 2012 21:21:03 +0000Emma Pullman6446 at http://desmogblog.comWhat To Expect When You're Electing: Part 2 - Mitt Romneyhttp://desmogblog.com/what-expect-when-you-re-electing-part-2-mitt-romney
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/Romney.jpg?itok=it5SBvok" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>In <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/what-expect-when-you-re-electing-part-1-what-s-stake">Part 1</a> of this series, we explored the overall environmental issues that are facing the U.S., mostly as a part of coordinated attacks by politicians in Washington. In the next few articles, we’ll take a look at what each candidate has said or done in regards to both environmental and energy issues.<br /><br />
At this point in the race, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is the presumptive Republican nominee for President of the United States, a title that will become official after the <a href="http://www.gopconvention2012.com/">Republican convention</a> in August. Because Romney previously served as a governor, we have the benefit of looking at what he’s actually done when placed in charge, not just committee votes or proposed legislation.<br /><br />
And just like his record on other issues, Romney’s environmental record is one that has constantly changed to fit the political landscape. He has somehow managed to take both sides of virtually every major environmental issue, with his recent positions being more in line with that of the extremist, climate change denying branch of the Republican Party.<br /><br />
But the shift in ideas and rhetoric for Romney (which has quickly become his trademark as a candidate) is actually also in line with that of other major Republican candidates.</p>
<!--break-->
<p><br />
Before the 2008 election, Republican Senator John McCain had been a <a href="http://grist.org/article/mccain_factsheet/full/">very vocal critic</a> of the Bush administration's lackadaisical, and often hostile, approach towards the environment. He was the first member of Congress to put forth legislation to actually address climate change, and he was a vocal proponent of action on climate change via <a href="http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/marchers/john-mccain/">StopGlobalWarming.org</a>.<br /><br />
But things changed when he chose Sarah Palin as his running mate, and his campaign began touting the ridiculous line “Drill baby drill.” His positions on environmental issues <a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/77913//">moved further to the right</a>, and his past accomplishments became overshadowed by his <a href="http://www.salon.com/2008/09/20/john_mccain_environment/">newfound desire to please the dirty energy industry</a> and appeal to the Tea Party base of the Republican Party.<br /><br />
It appears that Mitt Romney is following in McCain’s disastrous footsteps.</p>
<p>During his tenure as governor of Massachusetts, <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2011-09-07/Romneys-energy-rhetoric-differs-from-his-record-as-governor/50304822/1">Romney’s environmental record</a> is something that he should be proud of, for the most part. He established a state fund for green, renewable energy projects; approved bills that would set aside land for solar power harvesting stations; and understood that investing in clean energy technology would be an economic boon to the state, in both dollars and jobs.<br /><br />
His green energy fund began with a $15 million investment from the state, a modest amount, but at least it was a start. But just seven years after he touted the state’s involvement in green energy investing, Romney took a shot at President Obama’s similar initiatives, <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2011-09-07/Romneys-energy-rhetoric-differs-from-his-record-as-governor/50304822/1">telling Republicans that the government</a> <i>“should not be in the business of steering investment toward particular politically favored approaches.”</i><br /><br />
And what about Romney’s admission as governor that investing in clean energy would create jobs? Today, <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2011-09-07/Romneys-energy-rhetoric-differs-from-his-record-as-governor/50304822/1">this is what he says about that issue</a>: <i>“To begin with, wind and solar power, two of the most ballyhooed forms of alternative fuel, remain sharply uncompetitive on their own with conventional resources such as oil and natural gas in most applications.”</i><br /><br />
The flip-flops don’t end there, either. While governor, Romney touted the benefits of cap and trade systems, and implemented a plan that he hoped would serve as a blueprint for the rest of the nation. But as <a href="http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/politics/blogs/mitt-romneys-environmental-record">Mother Nature Network points out</a>, this is what he’s now saying on the campaign trail about cap and trade in America: <i>“We're going to move our new facilities from the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> to China, where they don't have those agreements. You end up polluting and putting just as much <span class="caps">CO</span>2 in the air because the big energy users go there. That's why these ideas make sense, but only on a global basis. They don't call it 'America warming.' They call it 'global warming.'”</i><br /><br />
His <a href="http://www.green-blog.org/2011/08/17/mitt-romney-michele-bachmann-and-rick-perry/">positions on oil drilling have remained constant</a>, but that doesn’t make them good ideas. He’s typically always been in favor of increased domestic and offshore oil drilling, and he’s a staunch supporter of opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling. As <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/06/09/496886/romney-energy-plan-includes-drilling-virtually-every-part-of-us-with-no-protections-even-for-national-parks/?mobile=nc">Think Progress reports</a>, if elected president, Mitt Romney would open up virtually every piece of federal land for oil drilling, including national parks and wildlife preserves.<br /><br />
On the big issue – whether or not he agrees with scientists and rational people that anthropogenic climate change is occurring and that it’s a threat – he has no idea. In the past, <a href="http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/politics/blogs/mitt-romneys-environmental-record">he acknowledged that climate change was real</a> and that it was caused by man, but today he’s singing a different tune. While he freely admits that scientists agree climate change is real, he also says that there is plenty to be skeptical about. Here’s what <a href="http://aboutmittromney.com/environment.htm">Romney said in March 2010 about climate change</a>:<br /> </p>
<blockquote>
“Scientists are nearly unanimous in laying the blame for rising temperatures on greenhouse gas emissions. Of course there are also reasons for skepticism. The earth may be getting warmer, but there have been numerous times in the earth’s history when temperatures have been warmer than they are now. Climate cycles with great variations in temperature predate the greenhouse gas emissions of the past three centuries, and they even predate the rise of human populations. In fact, climate change has been going on from the beginning of the world; it is certainly not a new phenomenon. Even the apparent unity among scientists is not a sure indicator of scientific fact.”<br />
</blockquote>
<p>Once again, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-romney-energy-20120613,0,1068265.story">Romney is trying to have it both ways on the issue</a>. He hopes to woo those who believe in science with one hand, while embracing the fringe climate change deniers with the other. He believes that if he stays close to the middle and refuses to take a clear stance, he’ll gain everyone’s support. 2004 Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry can tell you how well that strategy works in national elections.<br /><br />
When not running from his own record on environmental and energy issues, he’s been busy <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2012/05/09/romney-attacks-obama-energy-policies.html">attacking President Obama over his</a>. In early May of this year, <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2012/05/09/romney-attacks-obama-energy-policies.html">Romney told supporters</a> that the President’s policies were hindering oil and gas development, and therefore causing the spike in gas and energy prices that was affecting most Americans. Later that month, Romney took to the airwaves, <a href="http://articles.cnn.com/2012-03-18/politics/politics_romney-obama-energy_1_obama-energy-policies-gas-prices-mitt-romney?_s=PM:POLITICS">courtesy of Fox News</a>, to again make the <a href="http://desmogblog.com/republican-claims-about-gas-prices-demonstrate-lack-knowledge-about-free-market">debunked claim</a> that President Obama was the one responsible for the spike in gasoline prices.<br /><br />
Unfortunately for Mitt Romney, his constant flip-flopping on environmental and energy issues has not proven to be a payday for the candidate. Sure, the multi-millionaire isn’t hurting for campaign cash, but the dirty energy industry has been less than generous so far in the 2012 cycle with Romney. To date, the industry as a whole (oil, gas, mining, electric utilities, etc.) has <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pres12/indus.php?cycle=2012&amp;id=N00000286">only pumped $2.9 million</a> into Romney’s campaign, a relatively small amount in a post-Citizens United America that allows for unlimited amounts of corporate cash in elections.<br /><br />
Overall, Mitt Romney isn’t one that should be trusted on environmental issues, based mostly on his rhetoric, not his actions. Eight years ago he would have been considered and environmental champion, but today, he’s just another politician trying to have his cake and eat it, too.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/627">Fox News</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1004">economy</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1286">oil</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2257">mitt romney</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2327">environment</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2474">cap and trade</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4174">jobs</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5693">Policy</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6499">Drilling</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6562">keystone</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7147">Company</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7200">Talking Point</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9505">Donations</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9506">Flip Flop</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9507">Achievement</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9508">Anwar</a></div></div></div>Fri, 06 Jul 2012 14:00:00 +0000Farron Cousins6391 at http://desmogblog.comOil Industry Lobbyist / Mushroom Farmer Claims Family Farms Need Frackinghttp://desmogblog.com/oil-industry-lobbyist-mushroom-farmer-claims-family-farms-need-fracking
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/Fracking_Graphic_t670.jpg?itok=mebGJN7E" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Because apparently the only way for small American farmers to sustain themselves is not with crops they produce, but by letting the good 'ole gas man tap the reserves under their land.</p>
<p>“Agriculture and industry go together, if you want prosperity in these little towns, you need balance, that's the story of my family.”<br /><br />
So said Karen Moreau on <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/201201190005">Fox <span class="amp">&amp;</span> Friends,</a> refering to the New York moratorium on fracking. Moreau claims to be from the “<a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=mushroom+farms+ny&amp;ie=utf-8&amp;oe=utf-8&amp;aq=t&amp;rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&amp;client=firefox-a">last family mushroom farm</a>” in Feura Bush, <span class="caps">NY</span> and was on the show to talk about how fracking would be an economic rainbow to many small farms in the state, if only those pesky regulators would stop getting in their way.<br /><br />
The story Moreau neglected to tell on Fox <span class="amp">&amp;</span> Friends was that <a href="http://www.api.org/en/news-and-media/news/newsitems/2012/jan-2012/api-hires-karen-bulich-moreau-ny-petro-council.aspx">she's the executive director </a>for the New York State Petroleum Council, a division of the American Petroleum Institute. Translation: less so “family farmer” and more so “industry lobbyist”.<br /><br />
Moreau is the President and co-founder of <a href="http://www.landandlibertyfoundation.org/">The Foundation for Land and Liberty</a> (<span class="caps">FLL</span>), a litigation organization formed to “protect private sector legal rights, so that land ownership remains a fundamental right derived from natural law”.</p>
<p>The foundation is mainly a property rights group that formed to provide legal assistance surrounding development issues to land owners in the Adirondacks. Moreau has a background in law, specifically in agriculture and rural economic development. She <a href="http://blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org/inbox/2010/12/07/the-new-york-post-gets-the-adirondacks-wrong-again/">has been previously caught </a>spinning facts and forgetting pertinent information in her New York Post opinion articles.</p>
<!--break-->
<p>Now the Foundation for Land and Liberty folks are focusing on fracking in New York to try and get the state's fracking moratorium lifted. Late in January they released their pro-fracking documentary, “<a href="http://www.landandlibertyfoundation.org/2012/01/the-empire-state-divide-parts-1-3">The Empire State Divide</a>”, a short film running with the message that the only way struggling farmers will become prosperous again is by running into the money-rich arms of the fossil fuel industry.</p>
<p>It paints a picture of southern New York landowners staring over the Pennsylvania border to a land of milk and honey brought in by natural gas companies, while glossing over (actually just flat out ignoring) the facts that any economic boom there will be short-lived (as the gas runs out, so will the money) and comes with a high environmental and public health cost.<br /><br />
Back to Fox <span class="amp">&amp;</span> Friends, where Moreau appeared to plug the film's release, complete with a set of industry talking points, including the often heard, “<a href="http://www.politifact.com/ohio/statements/2011/jul/19/kris-jordan/state-sen-kris-jordan-says-fracking-has-been-used-/">fracking has been around for decades</a>.” While it is true - Halliburton pioneered fracking in the 1940s - the essential caveat is that <em>vertical</em> fracking has been around for decades, not high volume slickwater fracking and horizontal drilling, which only began in the late 1990s.</p>
<p>Vertical fracking is simply drilling straight down into the rock. However, the shale formations that contain gas exist <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB3FOJjpy7s&amp;feature=related">in layers underneath the ground.</a> When wells are drilled via horizontal or directional drilling, it's easier to extract more gas. Typically <a href="http://www.naturalgas.org/naturalgas/extraction_directional.asp">directional drilling</a> is used to manuever around obstacles they can't build rigs on - like lakes, railroads, or protected areas. Horizontal wells can make a 90-degree turn in only a few feet in order to gain better access to the reservoir.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.onearth.org/blog/ny-fracking-moratorium-whats-a-horizontal-well">That means that horizontal fracking</a> is akin to vertical fracking on steroids - the wells are longer, requiring millions more gallons of water, plus sand and chemicals, pumped at a much higher volume, and consequently much more dangerous. There is a higher probability of failure in the well, potentially causing leakage of the chemicals used in the process.<br /><br />
Land owners should have the freedom to use their land however they wish- whether it's for farming, raising livestock, riding horses, having epic bonfires, holding naked volleyball competitions, or just being a recluse in general.</p>
<p>That's what owning land is all about, however you can only do what you want so long as it doesn't cause harm to others. If one person invites the industry into their backyard, can they assure it won't affect their neighbors?</p>
<p>Water doesn't understand the concept of property lines, nor does radiation or earthquakes. The real question should be, why is it so difficult for small farms to succeed, rather than, why hasn't your farm turned to the gas industry yet?</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/627">Fox News</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/643">American Petroleum Institute</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/911">new york</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2800">natural gas</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2939">energy</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4499">API</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5133">fracking</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8715">Foundation for Land and Liberty</a></div></div></div>Fri, 30 Mar 2012 17:50:00 +0000Laurel Whitney6161 at http://desmogblog.comTracking The Origins Of The "Blame Obama For Gas Prices" Talking Pointhttp://desmogblog.com/tracking-origins-blame-obama-gas-prices-talking-point
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/4%2Bdollar%2Bgas.jpg?itok=ZIHp6Mja" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Since at least last summer, conservatives have been parroting the oil industry talking point that President Obama is somehow the one responsible for the spike in gasoline and oil prices. As <a href="http://desmogblog.com/republican-claims-about-gas-prices-demonstrate-lack-knowledge-about-free-market">we have pointed out</a>, they base this on their assertion that the <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/another-industry-talking-point-laid-rest-oil-production-soars-gas-prices-remain-high">President has been “hostile” towards the dirty energy industry</a> by prohibiting drilling and denying the passage of the Keystone <span class="caps">XL</span> Pipeline proposal. While the Keystone deal is currently on hold (although not even close to being off the table,) the assertion that the president has been hostile to the oil industry is beyond false.<br /><br />
Furthermore, the claim that Obama is responsible for the rise in gasoline prices is untrue on all premises. Just this week, the Associated Press <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/21/us-oil-drilling-study_n_1369356.html">released a report</a> explaining the numerous ways in which gasoline prices are far beyond the control of the President, regardless of his actions or policies that he puts in place regarding oil exploration. Here are some highlights <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/21/us-oil-drilling-study_n_1369356.html">from the new report</a>:<br /> </p>
<!--break-->
<blockquote>
A statistical analysis of 36 years of monthly, inflation-adjusted gasoline prices and <span class="caps">U.S.</span> domestic oil production by The Associated Press shows no statistical correlation between how much oil comes out of <span class="caps">U.S.</span> wells and the price at the pump.<br /><br />
If more domestic oil drilling worked as politicians say, you'd now be paying about $2 a gallon for gasoline. Instead, you're paying the highest prices ever for March.<br /><br />
Political rhetoric about the blame over gas prices and the power to change them – whether Republican claims now or Democrats' charges four years ago – is not supported by cold, hard figures.<br /><br />
Sometimes prices increase as American drilling ramps up. That's what has happened in the past three years. Since February 2009, <span class="caps">U.S.</span> oil production has increased 15 percent when seasonally adjusted. Prices in those three years went from $2.07 per gallon to $3.58. It was a case of drilling more and paying much more.<br /><br /><span class="caps">U.S.</span> oil production is back to the same level it was in March 2003, when gas cost $2.10 per gallon when adjusted for inflation. But that's not what prices are now.<br /><br />
That's because oil is a global commodity and <span class="caps">U.S.</span> production has only a tiny influence on supply. Factors far beyond the control of a nation or a president dictate the price of gasoline.<br />
</blockquote>
<p>But all of these are facts that <a href="http://desmogblog.com/republican-claims-about-gas-prices-demonstrate-lack-knowledge-about-free-market">we have pointed</a> out <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/another-industry-talking-point-laid-rest-oil-production-soars-gas-prices-remain-high">in the past</a>. The real question at this point is why the talking point still exists. To understand why we’re still hearing it on a nearly-daily basis, we have to find out where it came from.<br /><br />
Beginning last June, the <a href="http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=8CA27564-2787-4AA9-8498-5C293EAE7419">Koch-funded group</a> Americans for Prosperity took their “blame Obama” talking point on the road to help spread anger about the rising price of gasoline. Their “Running On Empty” tour made stops across the country hoping to “teach” Americans exactly how President Obama was making them fork over more of their cash when filling up their tanks. <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/koch-money-fuels-afp-misinformation-campaign-gas-prices">As I wrote last June</a>:<br /> </p>
<blockquote>
<span class="caps">AFP</span> conveniently ignores the fact that <a href="http://www.theindependent.com/articles/2011/06/10/news/local/13480681.txt">gas prices were north of $4 a gallon during the Bush administration</a>, when they peaked at $4.12, as pointed out by protesters who showed up at one of <span class="caps">AFP</span>’s early gas tour events in Nebraska. But in the alternate reality that <span class="caps">AFP</span> is creating to enable Koch’s further oil profits, it’s somehow all Obama’s fault.<br /><br />
Here are the specific actions the president has taken, <a href="http://americansforprosperityfoundation.com/runningonempty/">according to <span class="caps">AFP</span></a>, that have raised gas prices:<br /><br /><blockquote>
Illegal Moratoriums: After the Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf, President Obama issued a moratorium on all new offshore drilling. The message is clear: Obama is against domestic energy production.<br /><br />
Canceling existing oil and gas leases: Amazingly, not only has Obama blocked any new permits but he’s also reaching back and canceling drilling leases that were already in place when he took office.<br /><br />
Locking up lands in the West: The federal government is working overtime to make sure Americans cannot access their own domestic resources.<br /><br /><span class="caps">EPA</span>’s job-crushing regulations (you can read the truth about these “job-crushing” regulations <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/house-republicans-distort-reality-blame-obama-high-gas-prices">here.</a>)<br />
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<p>At the same time <span class="caps">AFP</span> was holding their “Blame Obama” tour, <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/koch-money-fuels-afp-misinformation-campaign-gas-prices">numerous Koch-funded <span class="caps">GOP</span> Congressmen</a> were holding their own publicity stunts to bring attention to gas prices (and blame Obama):<br /> </p>
<blockquote>
Several freshman <span class="caps">GOP</span> Congressman have taken it upon themselves to stage “gas pumping events” at gas stations in their jurisdictions to promote the lie that the rise in price is Obama’s fault. Two of the four Republican congressman involved in these stunts – Jeff Duncan (<span class="caps">SC</span>) and Todd Young (<span class="caps">IN</span>) – have taken $2,500 and $5,000 respectively from Koch Industries.<br />
</blockquote>
<p>But the tours were not the Kochs' and <span class="caps">AFP</span>’s only efforts to paint Obama as the villain in this story – They also ran <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/24/1067994/-Koch-fueled-assault-on-Obama-gas-prices-is-self-serving-anti-democracy">coordinated <span class="caps">TV</span> ads</a> across the country making the claim that Obama was responsible.<br /><br />
What is ironic about the Kochs' trying to blame Obama for gas prices is that the Kochs themselves have <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/report/koch-oil-speculation/">actually played a significant role in driving the price of crude oil higher</a> by <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/04/13/153206/koch-industries-price-gouging/">speculating on oil futures and holding reserves offshore</a> until prices climb higher.<br /><br />
Oddly enough, several weeks ago the <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2012/03/12/442536/wall-street-journal-and-koch-cato-agree-not-obama-fault-crude-oil-prices-have-increased/">Koch-funded Cato Institute publicly admitted</a> that Obama is in no way responsible for rising gas prices. Unfortunately, that talking point has not caught on as quickly as their “Blame Obama” talking point did.<br /><br />
The <span class="caps">AFP</span> tour, ads, and the gas-pumping events were among the first national efforts to blame the President for the price of gasoline. And it didn’t take long for the rest of America’s right wing to take the idea and run with it.<br /><br />
One of the biggest talking point-pushers has been the American Petroleum Institute (<span class="caps">API</span>). <a href="http://www.api.org/news-and-media/news/newsitems/2012/mar-2012/api-announces-campaign-on-gasoline-prices.aspx">As recently as this week</a>, the organization has continued to blame the President for the price of gasoline (statements from <span class="caps">API</span> president Jack Gerard):<br /> </p>
<blockquote>
“We urge the administration to promote more domestic resources of oil and natural gas. Provide more access to ample <span class="caps">U.S.</span> supplies. Approve the Keystone <span class="caps">XL</span> pipeline. Temper the drive for layer upon layer of new regulations. And abandon proposals to impose on the industry billions of dollars in new taxes that would harm investment in the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> and the jobs that go with it.”<br /><br />
“Most <span class="caps">U.S.</span> resources have been placed off-limits. The <span class="caps">U.S.</span> oil and natural gas industry is currently allowed to explore, develop and produce on less than 15 percent of the federal offshore areas. More than 85 percent of those areas are off limits, denying all Americans the benefit of producing those resources … benefits like greater supplies of crude oil and natural gas, job creation and significant returns to our treasury in taxes, rents, royalties and bonus bids.”<br />
</blockquote>
<p>Ironically, while <span class="caps">API</span> President Jack Gerard was laying partial blame on Obama, even Rex Tillerson, <span class="caps">CEO</span> of Exxon, said that the rise in gas prices is <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120308-712045.html">solely the result of rising global crude oil prices</a>.<br /><br />
But the talking point is being pushed by more than just those with a financial stake – It is also being pushed by those who hope to gain politically from the blame game.<br /><br />
As <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/201203200006">Media Matters has pointed out recently</a>, Fox News has done an amazing job pushing the idea that President Obama is the one responsible for our pain at the pump. Rather than pointing out the administration’s efforts to improve fuel economy (something the network said was a bad idea,) they instead decided to hammer the President on the bogus claim that he was prohibiting oil drilling.<br /><br />
Fox reported on the issue of gas prices more than any other news outlet, and more often than not, they laid the blame squarely at the feet of Obama. The following <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/201203200006">chart of coverage</a> of the issue is from Media Matters:<br /><br /><a href="http://s1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb321/fcousins1/?action=view&amp;current=gasblamechartMediaMatters.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb321/fcousins1/gasblamechartMediaMatters.jpg" /></a><br /><br />
And as we all know: As Fox News goes, so goes the Republican Party.<br /><a href="http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/obama-can-be-blamed-for-high-gasoline-prices-464kvc5-143401256.html"><br />
Presidential candidate wannabe’s</a> including <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57398116-503544/mitt-romney-obama-to-blame-for-high-gas-prices/">Mitt</a> <a href="http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/46777272#46777272">Romney</a>, <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/obama-can-be-blamed-for-high-gasoline-prices-464kvc5-143401256.html">Rick Santorum</a>, and <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/obama-can-be-blamed-for-high-gasoline-prices-464kvc5-143401256.html">Newt Gingrich</a> have all attempted to blame the President for gas prices, conveniently forgetting that the last Republican president saw gas prices top <a href="http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/gas-prices-were-421-a-gallon-under-bush--so-why-is-obama-to-blame-for-gas-prices-today/question-2508615/">more than $4 per gallon</a> while in office (and while they all remained completely silent on the issue.)<br /><br />
We currently have industry, media, and politicians pushing a completely bogus talking point to the American public. And even with all of the evidence and reports that clearly show that this talking point is false, it is incredibly unlikely that they will back off of it before the 2012 election.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/627">Fox News</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/897">spin</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1270">Newt Gingrich</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1286">oil</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2257">mitt romney</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2844">gas prices</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3094">rick santorum</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4499">API</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4515">Americans for Prosperity</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4862">dirty energy</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5227">politics</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5445">election</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5692">Industry</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5857">Keystone XL</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5968">Koch</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6193">Lies</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7200">Talking Point</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8701">Issue</a></div></div></div>Fri, 23 Mar 2012 19:06:45 +0000Farron Cousins6150 at http://desmogblog.com